AFRICA: Self-sufficiency in food, South Korea invests in rice growing
South Korea has announced a massive investment of 61 billion CFA francs (100 million dollars) in its K-Ricebelt initiative by 2027. This initiative aims to collaborate with eight African countries (Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Ghana, Cameroon, Uganda, Kenya, and Guinea-Bissau) to produce 10,000 tons of rice, enough to feed 30 million people.
Rice self-sufficiency is a key goal for Africa, which currently heavily relies on imports.
The President of the African Development Bank, Adesina, emphasized that both the African Development Bank’s REWARD initiative and Korea’s K-Ricebelt should work together across the continent to achieve this goal within five years.
To achieve self-sufficiency, Africa not only needs to increase its production but also improve the quality of locally produced rice to match that of imports.
This requires investments in rice processing infrastructure and strategic planning to reduce transportation costs by ensuring that production areas are close to processing facilities.
Minister Chung mentioned that more African countries would be invited to participate in the K-Ricebelt initiative and invest in supporting infrastructure. «Korea has highly advanced milling technology and can explore how to deploy it in Africa», he added.
In summary, with Korea’s financial and technological support and close collaboration between the REWARD and K-Ricebelt initiatives, Africa is on the right path to achieve its rice self-sufficiency goal.
Pedro Okalamar
