KWENU! Our culture, our future

The rice campaign against malnutrition

Thursday, February 12,   2004

As part of the tremendous efforts by the international community to combat hunger and malnutrition, the year 2004 has been designated as the International Year of Rice  (IYR).

This dedication to a single crop is undoubtedly unprecedented in the history of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).  To facilitate this process, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), has convened a two-day Rice conference in Rome for February 12-13, 2004.

The rice campaign is obviously heart-warming considering its significance to  Nigeria  and other countries where malnutrition along with poverty and poor health services are afflicting citizens in breath-taking numbers.

‘Nowhere is the struggle for food more desperate than in West Africa—home to 240 million, one of every three persons on the continent. More than half the population survives, somehow, on less than one US dollar per day. Keep in mind that ‘food’ means ‘rice’ for many people in West Africa today,’  says Dr. Kanayo F. Nwanze, director general of the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA), based in Côte d’Ivoire. It was WARDA that developed the rice, dubbed NERICAs (NEw RIce for AfriCA).

"Ironically, rice was considered a luxury food in West Africa only two decades ago," Nwanze adds. "Today, it’s the staple." Rice now contributes more calories and protein than any other cereal in humid West Africa, and about the same as all roots and tubers combined. Demand for rice is growing faster here than anywhere in the world.

In three decades, rice imports have increased eight-fold, to over 3 million tonnes a year, at a cost of almost US$ 1 billion.

The theme of the IYR - "Rice is life"- reflects the importance of rice as a primary food source, and is drawn from an understanding that rice-based systems are essential for food security, poverty alleviation, and improved livelihoods. Rice is the staple food of over half of the world's population. In Asia alone, more than 2 billion people obtain 60 to 70 percent of their energy intake from rice and its derivatives.

 The International Year of Rice seeks to promote  improved production and access to this vital food crop, which feeds more than half the world's population while providing income for millions of rice producers, processors and traders. Development of sustainable rice-based systems will reduce hunger and poverty, and contribute to environmental conservation and a better life for present and future generations.

The world’s apex food agency described the grain, ‘as the most rapidly growing food source in Africa and is of significant importance to food security in an increasing number of low-income food-deficit countries.’

Rice-based production systems and their associated post-harvest operations employ nearly 1 billion people in rural areas of developing countries and about four-fifths of the world's rice is grown by small-scale farmers in low-income countries. Efficient and productive rice-based systems are therefore essential to economic development and improved quality of life, particularly in rural areas such as Abakiliki, Adani, and other  Nigerian communities noted for their high-yield rice production.

The agenda is essentially driven by the deepening poverty worldwide. According to FAO estimates, there are about 840 million undernourished people, including more than 200 million children, in developing countries. ‘Improving the productivity of rice systems would contribute to eradicating this unacceptable level of hunger.’

It noted however, that ‘rice production is facing serious constraints, including declining yield growth rates, natural resource depletion, labour shortages, gender issues, institutional limitations and environmental pollution.’ Enhancing the sustainability and productivity of rice-based production systems, while protecting and conserving the environment, will require the commitment of many parts of civil society, as well as government and inter-governmental action, the organization explained.

Presently, many countries attach great importance to sustainable rice development, hence the growing number of global initiatives aimed at promoting it. These include the Agenda 21 chapter on Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (SARD) approved by 1992 Rio Summit; the 2002 World Conference on Sustainable Development; the 1996 Declaration on World Food Security and the World Food Summit Plan of Action; and the United Nations Millennium Declaration in 2000.

 Among the intergovernmental regulatory instruments that are of key importance for rice are those related to: food quality (CODEX Alimentarius); climate change; trade, and non-tariff trade barriers; biological diversity and the safe movement of modified living organisms; and ensuring equal access to and benefit sharing from plant genetic resources.

 Together with the IYR, these initiatives recognize that, in a world of increasingly interlinked institutions, societies and economies, it is essential that efforts are coordinated, responsibilities shared and participation included at all levels, from the local to the international.

The IYR envisions rice as the focal point through which the interdependent relationships among agriculture, food security, nutrition, agro-biodiversity, the environment, culture, economics, science, gender and employment can be clearly viewed.

·         Rice Production. From its Asian homeland, rice is now cultivated in 113 countries and on all continents except Antarctica. It is grown in a wide range of soil moisture regimes, from deep flood to dryland, and in different soil conditions. Rice plays a variety of roles that are related to the following important aspects of food security as well as rural and economic development.

• Nutrition. In the developing world as a whole, rice provides 27 percent of dietary energy supply and 20 percent of dietary protein intake.

• Agro-biodiversity. Rice-based systems are hubs of biodiversity. They combine well with other agricultural production activities, such as the raising of fish or ducks on waterlogged rice fields, and the feeding of rice straw to livestock. In turn, ducks and fish feed on weeds and small aquatic organisms, while livestock help with transportation and land preparation, as well as providing organic fertilizer. Rice is also grown together with vegetables and fruit trees such as banana and coconut. Rice fields also host a wide variety of natural enemies that control harmful insects and pests. In these ways, rice-based systems provide great opportunities for improved nutrition, diversified agriculture, increased incomes and the protection of genetic and agricultural resources.

• Water and land management. Rice is the only major cereal that can withstand water submergence and rice-based systems can make productive use of all the available water and land resources. Terracing allows cultivation on steep slopes, helps prevent soil erosion and landslides, controls floods, minimizes weed growth and generates water percolation and groundwater recharge, while submerged conditions enable organic matter to accumulate in soils.

• ·        Improving food security and nutrition. Although rice is a rich source of energy and protein, it has an incomplete amino acid profile and contains limited quantities of essential micronutrients. Nutrition can be improved by  better rice processing and cooking techniques, the use of rice varieties with high nutritional values, and the fortification of rice with vitamins and minerals, through applying food technology. Food security can  be enhanced by promoting complementary crops, livestock and fisheries activities within rice-based systems.

And most importantly, ‘IYR can help countries develop the infrastructure to support the responsible utilization of biotechnology. It can also increase awareness of the need to support the diversity of rice varieties to reduce genetic vulnerability and to enhance both rice productivity and quality. Diversity in rice-based systems greatly contributes to rural income and complete nutrition in a more balanced diet.’

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