The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MINAE), in collaboration with the FAO through the project Support for the socio-economic evaluation of the hybrid rice sector in Madagascar, organized consultation meetings to boost rice production hybrid in Madagascar.
According to the organizers of this Tuesday’s meeting, the consultations aim to achieve the objective of Velirano N° 9, which is food self-sufficiency. “MINAE aims to increase rice production to 6 million tonnes in 2023 and increase production by 10% per year until 2027, in order to become a rice exporting country again and for Madagascar to be the breadbasket food in the Indian Ocean,” said a press release.
Among the strategy adopted is the development and promotion of hybrid rice in Madagascar. It is in this context that the meetings focused on the development of the production of this type of rice were initiated and organized. They saw the participation of all stakeholders in the sector in Madagascar. The occasion was also marked by the presentation and validation of the general framework for the promotion of hybrid rice in Madagascar while taking into account the recommendations and improvements proposed by the participants, particularly at the level of the popularization of the product, the availability of seeds , lower production costs.
We also know that MINAE with FOFIFA and Africa Rice are currently experimenting and developing varieties of local hybrid rice seeds. The meeting was also used for the organizers to present the experiences of other African and Asian countries on their practice of hybrid rice cultivation. We should also point out the participation in the validation of the global framework project for the promotion of hybrid rice in Madagascar by a few companies operating in the sector, such as the STOI group. According to the representative of this company, the exchanges were constructive and the support for the socio-economic evaluation of the hybrid rice sector, with in particular the local production of hybrid seeds and organic fertilizers, will make it possible to significantly improve the production of this type of rice in the Big Island.
Twenty thousand rice farmers trained
Note that hybrid rice is a high-yielding variety and has great resistance to climatic hazards, especially drought. The yield on the plots amounts to around 11 tonnes per hectare. Hybrid rice is thus presented as an obvious solution for the country in achieving the objectives set, which are food and rice self-sufficiency. Thus, for this rice campaign, hybrid rice was grown on an area of 12,000 ha with nearly twenty thousand rice farmers trained by the project team in collaboration with the Regional Directorate of Agriculture and Livestock. And the supervisory ministry, for the next campaigns, intends to intensify the dissemination of hybrid rice technology and plans to produce hybrid rice seed on 2,000 hectares.
The MINAE which also recalled that within the framework of the SudSud cooperation project on the introduction of hybrid rice technology in Madagascar, China is positioned as one of the main partners of Madagascar. Last year, during the descent to one of the intervention sites of the project in Andranovaky, in Mahitsy, in order to attend the hybrid rice harvest relating to the 2020/2021 rice campaign, it was indicated that returns were up to expectations. China, which has also already offered 300 tons of seeds for hybrid rice.
As for AfricaRice, during the meeting between its Director General, Dr Harold Roy-Macauley, and the Minister in charge of Agriculture and Livestock, Harifidy Ramilison, on June 27, it was formalized the consolidation of the relationship between this organization and Madagascar. It is above all a question of strengthening partnerships between the two parties, in order to develop the rice sector in Madagascar, and hybrid rice in particular.
According to Dr. Harold Roy-Macauley, it is very important to share knowledge, experiences and achievements so that the Big Island can progress. He also reiterated Africa Rice’s commitment and support for Madagascar to become the food basket of the Southern Africa sub-region. The two parties also agreed on the planning of the organization for the next two years. Recall that Madagascar became a member of Africa Rice in 2011 and currently provides the p residence of the Council of Ministers of this organization.