Project 4: Rice Policy and Technology Impact on Food Security and Poverty Reduction

Although efforts are being made to increase rice production through breeding and agronomic enhancement of seeds and cultivation systems, unfavorable policies and inappropriate institutions can wipe out these gains. The project aims at developing a much deeper understanding of the likely scenarios for rice development in SSA, as well as assessing poverty, economic and environmental impacts with particular emphasis on productivity and poverty at the individual, community and national levels (SP3a, 4c, 4d). This project is aligned to SP5 in generating knowledge and strategies for developing policy and institutional frameworks for competitive rice production, thereby improving the livelihoods of millions of people in SSA. The project focuses on: (i) developing tools and methods for priority setting, impact assessment and policy analysis and sharing expertise in policy analysis and impact assessment with NARES and other stakeholders; (ii) policies and institutions to promote competitive rice systems; (iii) understanding how better post-harvest technologies can improve competitiveness; (iv) assessing ex-ante and ex-post economic, social, and environmental impacts of technological, institutional and policy changes at the national and regional levels.

Outputs

1. Tools, methods and enhanced capacity for impact assessment, policy analysis and priority setting

2. Rice policy options and institutions for competitive domestic rice production

3. Improved post-harvest systems for competitive domestic rice production