TRANSFORMATION OF THE GAMBIAN RICE SUB-SECTOR THROUGH A TARGET-BASED PRODUCTION SYSTEM By Suruwa B. Wawa Jaiteh Permanen

1. TRANSFORMATION OF THE GAMBIAN RICE SUB-SECTOR THROUGH A TARGET-BASED PRODUCTION SYSTEM By Suruwa B. Wawa Jaiteh Permanent Secretary Department of State for Agriculture (DOSA) Republic of The Gambia

2. Presentation outline • Rationale • Expression of gratitude • Rice as a development tool • Introduction • Gambia: Rice consumption and production • Operation feed yourself • Rice: Gambian food economy

3. Presentation Outline Continues • Increase rice production • Rice promotion programme • Objectives • Organization/Components • Producer cooperatives • Strategic context

4. Rationale • Expression of gratitude • Let me start by expressing my heartfelt thanks to the Africa Rice Center, the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA), • Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Union Economic et Monetaire Ouest Africaine (UEMOA) for inviting me to take part in this very important and unique workshop on “Policies and Strategies for Promoting Rice Production and Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)”, • To you members of the audience for giving up your time to come and attend this innovative workshop.

5. Rationale Continues • For the invitation and for their part in the organization of this workshop: Director General Kanayo Mwanza of WARDA and Bruce-Oliver also of WARDA. I hope their expectations are fulfilled at least in some small measure. • Rice as a development tool • Rice a development tool and vehicle that calls for study, research-development and promotion has been taken for granted in most Sub-Saharan African countries, especially in the WARDA member countries. • Much of WARDA’s research and development output has not been adequately taken advantage of in most of the member countries.

6. Rice as a development tool Continues • Evident in the increasing importation of rice against very low domestic productions. • October 1984, FAO, WARDA and Government of Sierra Leone sponsored a workshop on Swamp Rice Development for Anglophone West Africa. • workshop hinged upon and revolved around the understanding of rice as a development crop, transfer of its production technology and the building up of production capabilities, which are, essentially, the core of my presentation today.

7. Rice as a development tool Continues • Workshop was very significant as it symbolised the growing importance which more and more thinking people in Sub-Saharan Africa are attaching to understanding the agronomy and production of rice, • And the way in which its production technology can be used as an instrument of development, a tool for the building of more autonomous societies better able to provide for the basic food, social and material needs of their members, considering that the economy of most countries in the region is agrarian and rice based. • I wanted to begin on this note because it is a theme that envelopes this workshop, a theme that has relevance to WARDA and to Africa as a whole and to this Policy Workshop in particular.

8. Rice as a development tool Continues • Many private agencies, foundations, national and several international agencies have sponsored action programmes to alleviate poverty and food insecurity through rice production. • Many of these have had tangible results already. • Some have been so successful that they have been credited, and I think deservedly, with starting a campaign against food insecurity through “rice production revolution”. • What was actually missing in this production revolution, was our commonvirus, sustainability. I hope one of the rigid guidelines of this workshop will be, to become masters and not victims of this virus?

9. Rice as a development tool Continues • We are here primarily to review, analyze, and assess the work which has been done in the past to help us initiate an integrated attack on the problems of providing plenty of rice for the rice eaters of the region. • This is a top priority assignment since rice feeds more of the people of region than any other crop. • Now, after having paid my respect to the “honourable rice,” I shall talk about the socio-economy of our small Gambian and its designed national strategy for the promotion of increased rice production as a conduit to the generation of sustainable employment and food security.

10. Introduction • Gambia: Rice consumption & production • A small coastal country in the West African Semi-Arid Tropics, the Gambia has the highest per capita rice consumption (107 kgs) among the Sahelian countries. The third highest per capita consumption in West Africa • About 66% of household income spent on food and about 30.9% of food expenditure is on cereals and cereal products, of which 82.3% is on rice. • Technical and physical constraints such as unsustainable lift-pump irrigation system and drought prone rainfed-production system, along side inadequate on-farm practices like the inability of farmers to double crop, seriously limit efforts to increased yield,

11. Rice consumption & productionContinues • Increased production and productivity stabilisation – requisites for yield, production and productivity take-off the main conduit for sustained income generation and food security • The total rice area cultivated in the Gambia, averaged 17,000 ha. between 1999 and 2003and, produced on average about 19,500 tons of milled rice which corresponds to a very low yield of 1.3 t/ha • This quantity is significantly below the annual milled-rice requirement of 158,000 metric tons. Consequently, cereal imports in the Gambia, which are exclusively rice, has to be increased. In 2003, a total of 136,000 tons valued at US$ 38.8 million was imported.

12. Operation feed yourself • Because of the magnitude of the problem, it seems clear that most of the rice required will have to be produced in the country. People most learn to feed themselves by their own efforts (hence operation feed yourself), using resources available to them • Is this possible? I am convinced that in much of the Gambia it is not only possible, but it is probably the only feasible way of doing it. • Fortunately, most of the poor and poorly fed Gambians live in areas where rice can be grown comparatively cheaper 365 days of the year or part of it. In many such places people are short of rice because they are not willing to work a little harder or have not yet learned how to use efficiently all the basic resources available to them or have not decided to hinge and revolve their livelihood system around rice.

13. Operation feed yourselfcontinues • This paper is a brief presentation on the target-based increased rice production programme designed to make better use of our available land and human resources. • In my opinion, increased domestic rice production, through a target-based production system shows considerable promise for meeting our import substitution needs as a prerequisite to a sustained economic and social progress.

14. Rice: Gambian food economy • Rice is the most important crop in the food economy of The Gambia because most of the country’s population are rice eaters • With an average per capita consumption of about 107 kg, rice is synonymous with food contributing a larger portion of the total food intake than any other cereal • In rural areas, rice provides about 75 percent of total calorie intake and about 45 percent of protein intake • Therefore, any agricultural development strategy aimed at self-sufficiency in food - without taking into account the importance of rice - will be an insufficient development strategy.

15. Rice: Gambian food economycontinues • Our rice cropping system is monoculture and the primary objective of the farmer is to produce all the rice needed by his family. His farm is small, ranging mostly from 0.5 to .75 ha. averaging about 1 ha. • Rice yields are low, with an average of about 1200 to 1300 kg/ha with the introduction of NERICAs, the average yield has progressively moved to the range of 2000 to 2500 kg/ha • Impressive though, this yield level cannot sustain a family of six or eight but It is highly probably that the design and achievement of a closely supervised, target-based rice production programme would generate surplus production that would sustain both employment and income generation within the context of a sustained import substitution strategy.

16. Increase rice production • Attainment of self-reliance in rice production has been an important development aim in the Gambia. The beginning of efforts to reach this aim can be dated to 1953/54. With the failure of the Colonial Development Corporation funded Sapu Rice Farm in 1957, the Taiwanese Technical Team took the first step in the mid 60s, immediately after independence in 1965, to develop community-based lift pump irrigated rice development schemes • This community schemes were followed by similar schemes funded by lending and donor institutions. These interventions resulted more in the practical documentation of the country’s rice production potentials than in any organised strategy for a sustained production programme, as yield and cropping intensities were low • Unfortunately, all the interventions were neither accompanied by an appropriate incentive structure nor sustained changes in the agricultural service system

17. Increase rice production continues • Substantial rise in rice production is only feasible with improvements in these neglected areas. • Therefore, the target-based production approach for an expanded and unified rice promotion programme, being planned for implementation as from January, 2006 should be seen as a “programme of national survival” • That will draw adequate lessons from past experiences to be geared to sustained production and yield stabilisation • This innovative approach will be designed for close coordination of services and for supply of technology packages ideal for our rice farmers and potential rice farmers across the country.

18. Increase rice production continues • Issues like cooperative enterprise approach, are vital in this regard and should be emphasized • Easily monitored and evaluated performance oriented target-based development through production and yield stabilisation, extension, input supply, credit, supervised services, increased production and production intensification linked to organised marketing remained bottlenecks • These could be addressed through the cooperative enterprise approach

19. Rice promotion programme • The Department of State for Agriculture is proposing an expanded rice promotion programme that will be launched in January, 2006 • The programme will revolve on a cooperative enterprise approach designed for target-based rice production system across the country. The initial phase of the programme, dry season NERICA promotion, will cover priority tidal and lift-pump irrigated areas in the north and south banks of the Central River Division (CRD, the rice bowl of the country) • The rainy season programme will be made to hinge upon and revolve around NERICA promotion, outlining area and yield targets for each administrative division. The programme will be expanded to include major and associate rice producing districts across the country, with emphasis on producer cooperative associations

20. Rice promotion programmecontinues • Divisions will be given enough seeds to cater for their area need. • With this rate of programmed multiplication, in addition to what has been done, the country may easily attain its NERICA seed requirements with surplus for consumption and/or export, in three years • NERICA will then be used to design a stabilised production and productivity campaign, essential prerequisites for the design of an integrated self-reliant rice production infrastructure for an expanded import substitution and export promotion take off

21. Rice promotion programmecontinues • This will provide a coherent rice development guideline, relating production and productivity goals to domestic demand with an explicit understanding of the value of the rice sub-sector to the country • This will facilitate our long-term perspective efforts to establish national goals and priorities for a relevant and demand driven rice research and development • The focus will be on raising productivity to a target-based yield level as a basis for regularising and stabilising the income and food security status of farm households.

22. Promotion programme objectives • Increase rice yields to the target-based level • Encourage and assist farmers in a supervised scheme to adopt the production package • Provide intensive extension advice and information campaigns and make packages of inputs available to farmers • Support the adoption and continuous use of recommended inputs through a supervised → credit programme • Provide incentive to farmers through a price support scheme; and provide assistance in the marketing of their produce.

23. Organization/Components Main components of the promotion programme will be:- • Delivery of NERICA seeds as well as fertilizer and other inputs at attractive prices • A supervised credit scheme • Creation of a special extension delivery system backed by an attractive incentive scheme • The provision of regular information campaigns for public and private partners, and • A coordinated management system at different divisional levels.

24. Organization • The promotion programme will be directed by the Department of State for Agriculture with the Secretary of State for Agriculture as its chairman • Members of the promotion programme will come from government institutions, relevant private agencies (especially rice importers) and non-governmental organisation • A national management committee will be responsible for the overall planning, management and evaluation of the programme. This committee will be supported by a specialised committee with representation at the divisional, district and village levels

25. Organization continues • The programme will be strongly integrated and supported by both government and private agencies, especially rice importers • This functional linkage of administrations, support services and private institutions will determine the sustainability and success of the programme • In addition, a purposeful Management Information System (MIS) will be designed to help record activities and prepare decisions • Independent Service providers will be used to monitor and evaluate the performance of the programme at various levels.

26. Producer cooperatives • Farmers will be required to be members of a producer cooperative association as a prerequisite to accessing certain incentives. Access to incentives should result to stabilised production and yield levels for continuous membership in the cooperative associations • Method and results demonstrations will be designed to function as farmer members’ introduction to the concept of Target-based cooperative enterprise • Although experimental station plots are wonderful for showing what is possible, they are less credible as to what is probable • There is nothing like seeing things in another farmer’s field to convince oneself of good performance under local conditions

27. Producer cooperatives continues • Working with women rice farmers in the 80s, made me think it was necessary to change attitudes in order to change behaviour. But my early experience with the Rokupr bred ROK5 showed the reverse possibility • A group of cooperative farmers who initially were averse to using ROK5 eventually planted it after a number of incentives were applied on all fronts – adhering to a calendar of activities, credit given • When ROK 5 was planted, seeds provided were paid in-kind with, supervised on-farm activities, expenses paid when harvest failed, assured marketing for the surplus produce and a threat of ejection for non compliance with the on-farm guidelines as a prerequisites to attaining the target yield

28. Producer cooperatives continues • After trial, participants attitudes to ROK 5 became favourable. Yield differences were determined through individual and group evaluations • The change in behaviour brought about the change in attitude mainly because ROK 5 proved itself in terms of salt tolerance and yield performance • Increased rice production through NERICA will be promoted through a replication of the FFHC experience, based on cooperative enterprise approach which had, in the areas of operation, generated sustained household food security, rural employment and improved livelihoods

29. Strategic context • The rapid increase in population, together with the escalating rural to urban drift, uncertain rainfall pattern and environmental degradation are posing serious threats to food (rice) security in the country • The country’s population is increasing at the rate of about 3% per year and doubling every 20 years. More than 40% of the country’s population are under the age of 15 • This scenario poses two major consequences. The first is that some members of this age group are child bearing while most have their childbearing years ahead of them • Secondly, society will be required to allocate increasing shares of domestic savings to education, health and rice imports, thus reducing the resources available for productive investment in rice farming. This process is likely to further deteriorate the rice situation and quality of life

30. Strategic context • Presently there is a sharp decline in the income of farmers due to importation of rice, which puts heavy stress on the country’s foreign exchange resources. If this situation continuous it will cause serious hemorrhage on the country’s economy and contribute to increased poverty • As most of the rural population earn their living from farming, the government is committed to a policy of improving and sustaining the national food security situation, while diversifying the income base of the rural poor as well as conserving the natural resource base of the production environment on a sustainable basis • Increasing rice production through promotion programmes will contribute to a broad-based poverty reduction and ensure food security by promoting increased production and productivity of rice

31. Strategic context • The country has comparative and competitive advantage to satisfy domestic requirements for food and to increase incomes of smallholder farmers • The tidal irrigation production system is expected to play a key role in this regard. It has the potential to facilitate the achievement of sustained food security, poverty reduction and employment generation • Increasing rice production through promotion programmes will contribute to a broad-based poverty reduction and ensure food security by promoting increased production and productivity of rice which the country has comparative and competitive advantage to satisfy requirements for food and increase incomes of smallholder farmers

32. Conclusion • In closing, I would like to say I am only too well aware of he fact that I have merely scratched the surface of this vast and challenging • In the time available, I have been able only to touch a few aspects of the issue, leaving many others aside without even a passing reference • In doing so, I may well have excited more puzzles than provided clues. But if we are able to put this into action, even in some small measure, then I will be quite satisfied • Indeed if, as a result of what has been the nucleus of this presentation, target-based, even if one of you is stimulated to undertake a national production campaign on this basis, or to be better informed on the subject and so to help create the climate or challenge in your part of Sub-Saharan Africa, then I will consider this policy workshop well worth the time and effort.

33. THE END NERICA THE SEED OF HOPE THANK YOU MERCI