At the Africa Food Systems Forum in Kigali in September, more than 5,000 delegates representing over 50 countries considered a fundamental question: what tangible difference does investment make?
The discussion highlighted that Africa already has evidence of effective solutions. By Sofia Tesfazion, IRRI regional director for Africa
The challenge now is to establish the conditions needed to finance, implement and expand these initiatives by linking proven approaches with supportive policies, institutions, funding and markets to deliver lasting results. As CGIAR noted in Kigali, impact depends on science, evidence, policy, delivery systems and finance working together to move innovations beyond pilot projects and towards wider adoption.
Rice is central to this wider discussion.
Rice has become one of Africa’s most important and rapidly evolving food and economic commodities. Across sub-Saharan Africa, demand is rising faster than for any other staple, and the region accounts for approximately one-third of global rice imports. Africa’s annual rice import bill, estimated at more than US$6bn, illustrates both the size of the market and the opportunity for local farmers and businesses to capture greater value through stronger domestic and regional rice value chains.
It is encouraging that discussions about rice are increasingly moving beyond production volumes to consider the broader systems required to connect more than 35 million African smallholder rice farmers with markets. These include access to reliable seed, irrigation and water management, mechanisation, finance, processing, quality standards, logistics, market information, employment and trade.
These priorities align with the African Union’s CAADP Strategy and Action Plan 2026–2035 and the CAADP Kampala Declaration. The framework aims to increase agrifood output by 45%, reduce post-harvest losses by half, triple intra-African agrifood trade and mobilise US$100bn in investment. It also highlights the need to ensure that investment benefits farmers and businesses while helping keep food affordable for consumers.
Agricultural transformation requires commercially sustainable and resilient value chains that create value for everyone involved. Farmers, businesses, financial institutions and markets need to operate as connected parts of the same system. Examples of this approach are already emerging.
During the Kigali forum, six countries, Nigeria, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Ghana and Sierra Leone, launched the US$500mn West Africa Rice Investment Facility. The ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development committed US$100mn. The initiative aims to combine public and private investment to support financing, agricultural inputs, processing capacity and private-sector partnerships throughout the rice value chain. It also builds on the ECOWAS Regional Rice Roadmap 2025–2035, demonstrating how West African countries are working collectively to shape their regional rice agenda.
However, Africa’s rice sector cannot be developed through a single model. Countries have distinct production systems, market conditions, constraints and objectives, and several are already demonstrating the results of targeted national strategies.
Tanzania has progressed beyond rice self-sufficiency, recording a self-sufficiency ratio of 112% in 2023/24 and supplying neighbouring countries. Ethiopia has designated rice a National Flagship Program. According to the country’s Ministry of Agriculture, smallholder rice cultivation expanded from 60,000 to 1.7 million hectares over five years, while imports declined by two-thirds.
Kenya is pursuing an irrigation-led strategy. Through its Rice Intensification Project, the National Irrigation Authority (NIA) aims to address the national rice deficit by increasing annual paddy production from approximately 300,000 tonnes to one million tonnes. It is expanding and rehabilitating irrigation schemes in coastal and western Kenya to bring more land into rice production.
The rehabilitation of schemes including Mwea, Ahero, Lower Kuja and South West Kano helped raise paddy production from approximately 192,000 tonnes in 2022 to around 305,000 tonnes in 2025. Farmers, millers and seed producers have also adopted Komboka, a high-yielding variety developed in collaboration with IRRI and the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), following their involvement in its selection.
Recognising these national differences is essential to building partnerships around priorities identified by individual countries. Continental cooperation can help connect national experiences and strategies, while the African Union’s Agenda 2063 provides a long-term framework for transformation through sustainable development, regional integration, trade, science and technology, and private-sector growth.
Against this backdrop, the Global Rice Policy Dialogue, scheduled for 15–16 October in Addis Ababa, will bring together African and Asian perspectives. The event is co-hosted by the African Union’s Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy, and Sustainable Environment (ARBE) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), in partnership with AfricaRice and the CGIAR Policy Innovations Science Program. It is co-organised with the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR).
The Dialogue will give policymakers and experts an opportunity to examine how national decisions on rice production, competitiveness, reserves and trade influence markets across borders. Discussions will also consider practical approaches to building more resilient and predictable rice markets.
Participants will explore how countries can strengthen their rice industries while balancing sustainable production, competitiveness, farmers’ livelihoods, consumer interests, reserves and trade amid growing market uncertainty. The Dialogue also aims to establish a shared platform for examining the cross-border effects of national policies, testing potential responses to market shocks and identifying practical measures for national implementation and voluntary regional coordination.
Kigali placed the spotlight on what investment can change. In Addis Ababa, the focus for rice will be on making that change sustainable. Progress will depend on science, effective policies, strong systems and cooperation working together, enabling African countries to strengthen the growth and competitiveness of their rice sectors and navigate an increasingly interconnected global rice market on their own terms.
