China-Africa Rice Value Chain Development Initiative through South-South Cooperation

Advancing rice value chain development between African countries and China through South-South knowledge sharing, mutual-learning, and technology transfer

Towards a Solution

China Africa Rice Value Chain Development Initiative, implemented by the Word Food Programme Centre of Excellence for Rural Transformation (WFP China COE) and Regional Centre of Excellence against Hunger and Malnutrition (CERFAM), with stakeholders from China and Côte d'Ivoire, aims to facilitate South-South knowledge sharing, mutual-learning, as well as technology and expertise transfer in advancing rice value chain development between African countries and China. In responding to regional and local development demands and priorities, technical training, on-site demonstration and technical guidance are provided to strengthen local smallholders’ technical capacity. Activities within the project provide an effective way to address Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2, particularly target 2.4, which focuses on sustainable food production systems and resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production. The project’s triangular approach is also beneficial to the realization of SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goal) with the applicable SSTC approaches to strengthen the means of implementation through a more inclusive and practicable partnership in rice value chain development.

This project is under the Global South-South Development Centre Project, which was jointly initiated by UNOSSC and China International Centre for Economic and Technical Exchanges (CICETE). Activities and events are organized by WFP China COE, CERFAM, and local partners in Côte d'Ivoire. Meanwhile, a China-Africa Rice Value Chain Development Synergy is formed to build a regular exchange mechanism between researchers and stakeholders in China and Africa, and enhance the partnership on rice value chain. Through mutual-learning exchange meetings, the partnership could be forged so that more support could be aggregated for rice value chain development in Africa to end food insecurity in the country and the continent.

Since March 2021, a field demonstration site has been established in local community, which serve as an accessible place for technical demonstration and training on rice  post-harvest treatment and processing. A few agro-machinery were procured to support the rice production technology transfer in the targeted local community. Two sets of three types of rice processing machinery were purchased, namely tiller, thresher and huller, to strengthen their machinery production capacity.

To further strengthen the capacity of local actors in rice sector, 2 technical trainings on rice post-harvest management with the approach “train-the-trainers (TOT)” was organized. The TOT model targets the know-how transfers of affordable and applicable technologies to local partners, and further disseminated to smallholders. In November 2021, an 3-day technical training was held in demonstration site. 22 participants from government and concerned partners attended the training to master appropriate pre- and post-harvest operations through lecture and practice. Another 4-day online workshop was organized in February 2022, 21 participants attended to learn the equipment operation for rice production and post-harvest management with lectures given by Chinese experts. Derive the knowledge and technologies from the training contents, a technical guideline on good practice of rice value chain will be delivered as a reference for further self-learning and trainings at grassroot-level. Supported by this initiative, 614 local smallholders and their households are integrated into a more effective rice value chain.

Leveraging China’s knowledge and experience in aspect of rice value chain development through SSTC modalities to Côte d’Ivoire has contributed to strengthen the resilience of sustainable food systems. The establishment of demonstration site and capacity strengthening through technical training also enables concerned local partners to provide high quality and timely support well beyond the timeframe of the project. With the success practice of the pilot phase, the initiative will enter a scale-up phase with generous support from UNOSSC and other partners from 2022.