{"id":12736,"date":"2024-08-01T12:33:21","date_gmt":"2024-08-01T12:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/?p=12736"},"modified":"2024-08-01T12:33:21","modified_gmt":"2024-08-01T12:33:21","slug":"ivorian-farmers-turn-to-new-rice-variety-for-increased-yields-and-profit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/12736\/ivorian-farmers-turn-to-new-rice-variety-for-increased-yields-and-profit\/","title":{"rendered":"Ivorian farmers turn to new rice variety for increased yields and profit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ivorian rice farmer Francois Kasse Yao has struggled to make ends meet with only one harvest per year before he planted a new variety, resistant to unpredictable weather conditions capable of producing larger yields.<\/p>\n

The grain, introduced as a part of a programme designed to increase output of the regional staple food and cut dependence on imports, allows rice growers to get two harvests per year, with a yield of up to 5 metric tons per hectare.<\/p>\n

This shift signals a potential boost for local farmers and the nation as a whole, which could reduce its reliance on foreign rice imports.<\/p>\n

Before the introduction of the new programme that includes better irrigation, mechanization and improved short-cycle drought-resistant seeds, farmers struggled to produce one metric ton per hectare in some areas.<\/p>\n

“Today’s yields are better … This time we’ve started with a new variety, so today we’re doing just fine,” said, the 52-year-old farmer harvesting rice in the village of Subiakro, over 14 km from the Ivorian capital Yamoussoukro.<\/p>\n

A farmer from another village, Hermane N’Guessan Kouame, praised the new variety’s scent and flavour as well as its capacity to resist frequent water shortages – the qualities that make the grain highly prized on the local rice market.<\/p>\n

The average price for this type of milled rice is 650 CFA francs ($1.09) per kilogram, Kouame said.<\/p>\n

“When you plant it, no matter how the weather changes, it’s always intact… It adapts to all climates,” said the 50-year-old who farms a 44-hectare plot in Zatta located 20 km from Yamoussoukro.<\/p>\n

SELF-SUFFICIENT<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ivorian production of local white rice currently stands at 1.4 million metric tons, far below the national consumption of 2.1 million, according to a managing director of the Agency for the development of the rice sector (Aderiz).<\/p>\n

To fully cover domestic demand, Ivory Coast imports rice mainly from countries such as India, Thailand and Pakistan.<\/p>\n

A decision by India to\u00a0curb its exports last year<\/a>\u00a0has raised shortage concerns in several African countries.<\/p>\n

But Aderiz says the latest investment of 330 billion CFA francs ($551.38 million) made by the state, its partners and the private sector, will enable the country to self-sufficient in three years.<\/p>\n

Production could reach 2.2 million tons by 2027, Yacouba Dembele said.<\/p>\n

“We’re going to make progress. We’re going to go fast, especially with the system we’ve put in place,” he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ivorian rice farmer Francois Kasse Yao has struggled to make ends meet with only one harvest per year before he planted a new variety, resistant to unpredictable weather conditions capable of producing larger yields. The grain, introduced as a part of a programme designed to increase output of the regional staple food and cut dependence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":9857,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":5,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"Reuters","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"0","show_view_counter":"0","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"0","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"0","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"0","show_popup_post":"0","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,2362,27],"tags":[1230,407,2865],"class_list":["post-12736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-featured","category-west-africa","tag-cote-divoire","tag-ivory-coast","tag-yamoussoukro"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}