World Food Policy Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2015 | Page 40

How Promising is the Rice Green Revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa?

II - Is Asian Rice Technology paddy production in SSA, paddy yield
has been increasing particularly in the
Transferable to SSA?

first decade of this century. Although
comprehensive and pertinent data are
hard to come by, it will not be unrealistic
to assume that such yield growth has been
achieved importantly by the introduction
of improved Asian rice technologies.
Indeed, the paddy production data we are
going to examine support such a view.

Asian rice technology: Although
the rice yield is still low in SSA, we should
not overlook the fact that it has increased
from 1.25 ton/ha in the early 1960s to 1.8
ton/ha in the late 2000s. In tropical Asia
where lowland rice production dominates,
the rice yield before the Green Revolution

A

s shown in Figure 2, paddy
production in SSA has been
increasing rapidly over the last
several decades. Nonetheless, import from
Asia has been rising because of the more
rapid expansion of rice consumption. Yet,
it is remarkable to note that the rice import
stagnated in recent years when paddy
production sharply increased, which
suggests that domestically produced rice
is a close substitute for the imported
rice. Another important observation is
that while the area expansion has been
the key factor supporting the increased

1000 ha/ 1000t
25000

t/ha
2.5

20000

2

15000

1.5

10000

1
0.5

2010

2005

2000

1995

1990

1985

1980

1975

1970

1965

0

1960

5000

0

Harvest Area
(1000 ha)
Paddy production
(1000 t)
Import (milled
rice, 1000t)
Paddy yield (t/ha)

Figure 2. Paddy production, harvested area, import (milled rice), and paddy yield
per hectare in SSA, 1961–2011
Source : FAOSTAT.

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