•“We are not fighting Pakistan Rice, but we want to ensure that we feed ourselves. It is about food sovereignty. We all saw what happened with food due to Russia and Ukraine crises, we should learn from this” he notes.
•The local demand for rice is over 600,000 metric tonnes against local production of less than 200,000 metric tonnes per year.
Anne Wairimu Wachira, locally known in Mwea, Kirinyaga County, as Mama Irungu, has tilled her rice paddies at Mutithi area as an out-grower farmer for years.
The plains of Mwea are known for the aromatic Pishori variety, but yields in the National Irrigation Bureau (NIB) irrigation zone have recently been declining.
The dwindling yields disillusioned farmers such as Mama Irungu. This has been blamed on the overuse of farmlands, low input application due to an increase in their prices, and reduced water flow because of frequent dry spells.
Mama Irungu says that in 2021, she decided not to plant due to the high costs of production. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as she was approached by the Integrated Community Organisation for Sustainable Empowerment and Education for Development (Icoseed), community-based organization, to offer her un-ploughed land for testing of hybrid rice varieties.
When Icoseed knocked at her door, she had no choice than to accept their request.
“I had a daughter that I need to take to the university the following year and I needed to get money for that. I asked the organization to ensure that I will be able to get this money, and they guaranteed that,” observes Mama Irungu.
What followed was a series of successful experiments that tested the growth and viability of four hybrid rice varieties on her farm and which culminated in her getting enough money to take the daughter to school despite a drought that hit the area.
From her plot measuring about half an acre, she got 11 bags of 100 kilograms. She says, were it not for drought, she would have harvested at least 25 bags from the same plot, which without drought produces nine bags of Pishori.
Production of hybrid rice is on the rise in Kenya and around Africa, and is seen as a sure way to bridge the gap between consumption and production.
In Africa, rice consumption is rapidly growing at six to twelve per cent per year which translates to around 30 million tonnes of milled rice.
According to Dr Kayode Sanni, the leader of rice programme and the Alliance for Hybrid Rice in Africa (AHyRA) with the Nairobi based technology transfer organisation AATF, the local demand for rice is over 600,000 metric tonnes against local production of less than 200,000 metric tonnes per year.
He says the situation will only get worse if a drastic step is not taken as Kenya is one of the countries with the highest annual growth rate in rice demand in Africa, currently at 12 per cent per year.
“The National Rice Development Strategy aims to double the production of rice in Kenya by 2030 to about 400,000 metric tonnes. However, by this time, the demand for rice will almost be at 1.5 million metric tonnes of rice,” Dr Sanni says.
Africa currently has a deficit of 12.3 MT, which is met through imports worth over US$ 6 billion which constitutes a huge loss of the continent’s foreign exchange reserves.
Hybrid rice varieties are seen as key to bridging this gap. There are several varieties already rolled out to the farmers through both private seed producers, and national and international research institutes.
Hybrid rice, according to Dr Sanni is achieved through a scientific process known as hybridization that gives rise to hybrid vigour, a breeding method bringing in desirable traits from two parents to produce a better offspring. In rice, the process is particularly sensitive as rice plant is a self-pollinated crop, meaning that it has both male and female on same plant.
To develop hybrids you therefore have to create a situation where one rice variety becomes the male parent while another variety becomes the female parent and select the crosses that are able to provide a better plant with desirable traits including high yield.
To bring the advantage of hybrid rice technology to African farmers, AATF in partnership with Hybrids East Africa Ltd (HEAL) a company responsible for developing rice hybrids, parental lines, and also training other partners on 2-line hybrid rice development and production has developed and are commercializing high yielding rice hybrids with yield of over 10 tons/ha. The Kenyan hybrid varieties include PWAN gold plus, AH18007, AH18004, and SCH04.
Apart from AATF’s hybrid rice initiative, there are other private companies and public institutions such as Bayer in Kenya, Advanta in West Africa and Tanzania, AfricaRice in Senegal, Egypt Rice Program, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in East Africa, Profeed Agriculture ltd in Kenya and Tanzania, Bayer in Nigeria and Afritec that are developing and marketing hybrid rice.
Image: WANGECHI WANG'ONDU
According to Alice Timothy of Profeed Agriculture ltd, they are already promoting the Arize hybrid in all rice planting schemes in Kenya. The only challenge she says the company faces is that of convincing farmers on the need to purchase hybrid seed every time they plant.
The introduction is going on well, though slow, she says. “Farmers are used to planting seed from a previous harvest and it takes time and effort to change this mindset.”
Considering the importance of hybrid rice at contributing to food security, job creation and enhancement of agr-business, an initiative called the Alliance for Hybrid Rice the Africa (AHyRA) was established to ensure that its benefit has great impact to African farmers. AHyRA’s aim is to consolidate and accelerate the development of parental lines, hybrid rice production, release, and commercialization for the benefit of African farmers, AHyRA was formed and brought together stakeholders in the rice sector towards achievement of rice self-sufficiency in the Sub Sahara Africa.
The Alliance is coordinated by AATF and `is being implemented in partnership with private and public sectors involved in the development of the technology, and training other partners on hybrid rice development and seed production.
The partners in AHyRA started farmer managed on-farm demos under farmer’s production condition to assess the profitability to farmers and acceptability and ability of farmers to use hybrid rice seeds in the production of their rice grains. The result is showing a yield advantage of more than 2 tons/ha above the best commercial inbred.
Jesse Kariuki, a former tour operator, who is now a rice farmer at Kanyekine, in Mwea says having worked with researchers from AATF and Icoseed, he realized that most of the farmers in the area were using wrong farming methods especially in the recycling of seeds.
When he started out, his seeds arrived late when all his neighbours were already weeding their local varieties. However, due to the fast-growing nature of the hybrid varieties, he harvested at the same time with the neighbors.
The hybrid variety took four months to mature and gave him 25 bags from an acre, a decent achievement for a first-timer.
“This was a great experience for me as a new rice farmer. The production can only improve.” The only challenge he faced was convincing the millers that the variety was good enough. This was however sorted out quickly when the millers saw the grain size and uniformity.
Patrick Muriuki the Managing Director of Icossed, sees a brighter future for rice farmers especially in Kirinyaga County as a new dam has been constructed to ensure reliable water supply.
The 15.6 million cubic meters Thiba Dam in Kirinyaga is now full and Muriuki says it will enable the introduction of double-cropping per year, which will put 70,000 acres of crop under irrigation every year.
Image: WANGECHI WANG'ONDU
Muriuki also notes that the hybrid rice varieties, which are the main competitors to imported varieties like Sindano and Pakistan have good grain qualities and are high yielding promising better returns. In the period under trial, he says there was a shortage of water but even then, the farmers still got better yields than those who grew pishori and other local varieties.
“Once all the factors are in place, the demand for the hybrid rice is going to overwhelm the production. At Icoseed, we have more than 1600 farmers, forming a strong hybrid rice farming base” he observes.
He says there is an existing market for the new rice varieties. His organization is already in negotiation with a regional supermarkets to take all the hybrid rice produced by the Mwea farmers, while also exploring the school feeding programme as a potential market.
Dr Sanni notes that the concept of hybrid rice seeds is new to many farmers who have to buy new seeds every planting season, but says it gives the farmer more yields than the traditional varieties.
“If a farmer gets an extra 10 bags more than local varieties after planting hybrid seed, only four of the bags will go to the seed buying while six goes to the farmer as extra profit. This is a win-win situation for both the farmer and the commercial seed trader. The miller gains because this is a better quality and uniform grain,” says Dr Sanni.
“Farmers sometimes see the cost of recycled seed as a zero cost. No. This is grain that a farmer would have sold at a certain cost and on average the seed of local varieties costs between Ksh 120 to 150 per kilogram, so it is not a zero cost, and the seed may be of inferior quality”.
He says the rise of hybrid rice is meant to reduce the reliance on imports that comes mainly from Pakistan. “We are not fighting Pakistan Rice, but we want to ensure that we feed ourselves. It is about food sovereignty. We all saw what happened with food due to Russia and Ukraine crises, we should learn from this” he notes.