A reception and seminar for the assessment of self-sufficiency for rice in Africa will be held at 3 p.m. Oct. 16 in the East Union Sunflower Room. Haishun Yang and Patricio Grassini will host the event.

Saito Kazuki, an agronomist and agro-physiologist for the Africa Rice Center will be the main speaker at the event, which will focus on how most African countries are not self-sufficient in meeting their rice consumption.

Self-sufficiency is not possible without large expansion of rice production areas in three countries: Burkina Faso, Egypt and Ghana. Capacity to achieve self-sufficiency by 2025 is assessed for only eight African countries.

For other countries, required area expansion for self-sufficiency depends on yield and consumption growth rates. The challenges discovered in Africa, and research priorities, will be discussed.

An interactive decision support tool called “RiceAdvice” will also be demonstrated. It will show how field-specific nutrient management can improve yield for smallholder rice farmers.

Saito Kazuki has more than 10 year of experience working in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. He is currently leading the Africa-wide Rice Agronomy Task Force involving 21 member countries, with special focus on yield gap assessment.

He is also involved in climate risk assessment and R&D priority setting for rice in Africa.