The Meeting of Center of Excellence for Rice in Africa conducted today

The IOFS Director General H.E. Yerlan A. Baidaulet, together with the Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural equipment of Senegal, M. Malick NDAO, Director Scientific of ISFA, Dr. Abdou NDIAYE opened the First meeting of CoE for Rice for African Group 2 under the framework of the Development Strategic Commodities Program of IOFS jointly with the Senegalese Agricultural Research Institute was held. There were around 40 different representatives of Scientific Research Institutes, local authorities, and experts of the sector, including Islamic Development Bank, KAFACI, UN FAO, CIRAD Africa Rice Center, and MAAIF. The CoE gathered representatives of Cameroon, Chad, Gambia, Mali, Senegal, and Uganda research societies.  

During his speech, the IOFS Director General announced the 2022 “the year of Africa” in IOFS and expressed hope that the next meeting of the CoE would be conducted physically in the esteemed research institute.

The meeting was moderated by the Director of the Program and Projects of the IOFS, Dr. Ismail Abdelhamid, and Program Manager of IOFS, Dr. Shahlo Atabaeva for the first session, and the second part was done by Dr. Omar Ndaw FAYE, Rice Breeder - Agronomist Engineer, ISRA. The importance of the sector development with a focus on climate-resilient approaches and newly adopted varieties was emphasized in the speech of the Director-General of IOFS HE Yerlan Beidaulet and by Deputy Permanent Secretary Mr. Musa Humma of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Gambia during their speeches. It should be noted that even though Africa is not a central rice-producing region in the world, the volume of trade and imports remains an essential source of domestic rice supply. The other issue is productivity as a significant challenge in rice production in African countries and substantially less than in Asian countries.

Participants of the meeting shared presentations on current situations, challenges, and prosperities in countries level as well as applied R&D.  The second session was devoted to the actions and solutions for the development of the rice sector in the region, including the local efforts for regional solutions including critical factors in responding to the impending spread of rice diseases and prosperities of growth.  

All materials for the training will be available on the IOFS website.