African rice newsNew Africa rice leaderPapa Abdoulaye Seck of Senegal (picturedright) will succeed KanayoNwanze, whose second and final termends in November, as director generalof the Africa <strong>Rice</strong> Center (WARDA). HisExcellency Adamu Bello, HonorableMinister for Agriculture and NaturalResources of the Federal Republic ofNigeria, in his capacity as the chair ofthe WARDA Council of Ministers, madethe announcement at an extraordinarysession of the WARDA Council on 22June 2006 in Abuja, Nigeria.At the time of the announcement,Dr. Seck was director general of theSenegal Agricultural Research Instituteand adviser to the prime ministerof Senegal. A member of the executivecommittee of the West and CentralAfrican Council for Research and Developmentand of the Global Forum onAgricultural Research, he also servedas chair of the Forum for AgriculturalResearch in Africa.Dr. Seck said, “One of my cherisheddreams has been fulfilled: to be in astrategic position to serve Africa better….My work at WARDA will be builton the pillars of transparency, equity,scientific excellence, strengthening ofthe national agricultural research systems,and an open-door policy towardsall partners.”Growing rice demandThe demand for rice in Africa, whichaccounts for 20% of world rice imports,is growing at around 6% per year. About20 million farmers in sub-SaharanAfrica grow rice, while about 100 millionpeople depend on it for their livelihood,People’s Daily Online reported.In 2004, some 13.2 million tons of ricewere produced locally, while 5.9 milliontons were imported from elsewhere,costing the sub-Saharan African regionsome US$1.2 billion.ROTIMI FASHOLANigeria rice import banNigeria’s decision to ban rice importsfrom 2007 has been met with both enthusiasmand skepticism. Mike Ejemba,former secretary to the Presidential<strong>Rice</strong> Initiative Committee, warnedthat the government may be fined bythe World Trade Organization (WTO)or have WTO benefits withdrawn.“If Nigeria is found guilty, she wouldlose substantial revenue in millionsof dollars as penalty and legal bills,”he said.However, in an article entitledNigeria: the rice penalty, publishedin This Day in Lagos on 28 July, writerTayo Agunbiade hailed the move as partof an attempt to revive rice productionfor both local and international consumptionand a positive step towardreforming and diversifying the nation’seconomy.“Nigeria’s ban on the importationof rice should in no way attract a fineor withdrawal of WTO benefits. Onthe contrary, the nation should becommended for taking a bold step towardsaddressing some of its domesticproblems such as unemployment, andpoverty, as well as promoting agriculturaldevelopment and diversifyingthe foreign exchange earner base,”Agunbiade said.For a wrap-up of the recent Africa <strong>Rice</strong>Congress in Tanzania, see Putting rice onthe African agenda on pages 16-17.and productivity as well as upgradedrainage and irrigation systems incommercial paddy fields. The countryaims to increase its rice productionand reduce its imported-food bills. By2009, all local paddy farmers will berequired to plant high-yielding ricevarieties. Malaysia, which importsfrom Thailand and Vietnam, had set atarget to meet 90% of the local demandfor rice in the next 5 years, up from thecurrent 72%.<strong>Rice</strong> as food aid<strong>Rice</strong> made up 17% of global cereal foodaid deliveries in 2005, according to aWorld Food Program report. Globalcereal food aid deliveries totaled 7.1million tons, which accounts for 86%of all food aid delivered. In 2005,slightly more rice food aid—1.2 milliontons—was delivered than in 2004, butless than the 1.4 million tons deliveredin 2002 and 2003.Global food supplies at risk?Climate change may put global foodsupplies at risk because rising carbondioxide levels are unlikely to boostyields enough to compensate for factorssuch as higher ozone levels and drierconditions, according to a Universityof Illinois study published in Sciencemagazine. The researchers used openfieldtests to study how the world’s mainstaples—corn, rice, sorghum, soybeans,and wheat—would grow under conditionsprojected for 2050. Resultsshowed that crop yields were abouthalf those drawn from similar earlierexperiments conducted in enclosed testconditions.<strong>Rice</strong> News WorldwideIRRI’s <strong>Rice</strong> News Worldwide siteprovides links to a comprehensive listof the latest rice news stories. See foryourself at http://ricenews.irri.org.<strong>Rice</strong> Today October-December 2006 7