TZ@60: Why rice is likely to become the white gold of the future

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Tanzania was among the top 20 rice producers in the world in the year 2020/2021, according to the United States Department of Agriculture

Tabling the budget for the financial year 2021/2022 the minister for Agriculture Dr Adolph Mkenda detailed the government’s plans to boost rice production by 75 per cent to 100 per cent, progressively. He said the plan this financial year (2021/2022) is to establish 28 irrigation schemes. Farmers in those schemes will be facilitated with fertilisers, high yield seeds, extension services, access to mechanisation, education as regards to better land and water uses. “We also expect the Rufiji Basin Development Authority (Rubada) to increase its production in collaboration with the private sector and the Regional Rice Centre of Excellence (RRCE) based in Ifakara,” said Dr Mkenda. RRCE is currently developing high yields of upland rice. According to the ministry of Agriculture rice production in the 2020/21 season and food availability 2021/22 shows that Tanzania rice production is 2,579,535 tonnes. With the demand of 1,091,778 tonnes the country is expected to have a surplus of 1,537,741 metric tonnes with the self-sufficiency ratio for rice being 241 per cent, the highest for any cereals. Tanzania has reached rice production surplus by cultivating only about 4 per cent of the arable land suitable for rice production. What will happen when 50 per cent of the land is cultivated? The increase in production is also associated with the increase in yield. In 2018/19 Tanzania produced 2,009,174 metric tonnes of rice while the requirement was 999,543 tonnes. The country, then, achieved a surplus of 1,009,631 tonnes. In the 2019/20 farming season production of rice reached a peak of 3,038,080 tonnes against demands of 1,094,119. The country had a cool surplus of 1,943,961 tonnes, according to the budget speech of Dr Mkenda. Rice production hit the one million metric tonnes mark for the first time in the 2010/11 season, definitely after concerted efforts as part of the implementation of the NRDS I, and has been increasing since then. It reached the two million mark in the 2015/16 season. Tanzania used to be a net rice importer. Information from the ministry of Agriculture shows that the country spent an average of $26 million annually to import rice between 2001 and 2005.

TZ@60: Why rice is likely to become the white gold of the future

What you need to know:

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