African rice

""With nearly 40 percent of the total rice consumption of Africa coming from the international market, African national rice economies are more exposed to unpredictable external supply and price shocks than those of other continents," Papa Abdoulaye Seck, director-general of the Africa Rice Center (WARDA), said in a blog article.

Poor uptake of improved higher-yielding rice varieties has also kept production low. "The main bottleneck for their diffusion is a lack of seeds," Moussa Sie, a plant breeder with WARDA, told IRIN. “National seed systems are non-existent or not working. "