RIU Zambia with NERICA rice and other farmer produced quality seed
Rice production and marketing - lessons from an exchange between Uganda (NERICA rice) and RIU Zambia

The RIU Zambia team and their partners showed how rice production was being offered to farmer as an alternative to some environmentally damaging practices previously undertaken - such as charcoal burning. They showed how systems for intensification coupled with new seed varieties were increasing yields and how demonstration plots and Farmer Field Schools were being deployed to help farmers learn new techniques. These new approaches have increased yields from 0.9 tonnes per hectare to 3 or 4 tonnes per hectare.

Zambia has been a net importer of rice with around 10,000 tonnes per year currently imported - giving a clear market opportunity.

RIU Zambia has worked closely with Community Markets for Conservation, a privately listed company which aims to support more responsible environmental practices. It also has developed expertise in branding products: their "It's Wild" brand includes a range of locally grown products including rice which compete well with imported alternatives. They have established markets for the brand in a range of Zambian supermarkets - there is also interest from Botswana, DRC and Tanzania.

In the first growing season 20 tonnes of seed rice was purchased yielding 300 tonnes of rice for consumption working with 2,000 farmers. In the next season this increased to 50 tonnes of seed yielding 750 tonnes from 10,000 farmers.

Lessons from the Ugandan NERICA team came from their work on seed purification and certification where private sector companies are working with farmers (outgrowers) to bulk up stocks of seeds provided by the National Crop Resources Research Institute. This is upland rice which is grown without the need for the paddy fields used in Zambia. The NERICA team used Farmer Field Schools, manuals and video training material translated into 7 local languages. March 2011 (15:42)

RIUtv film transcript (250 KB)

MORE RIUtv ⇒