AfricaRice : Uganda--blazing a trail to rice success

1. Here is a transcript I made for students studying English in the JICA program. Some of my students are going to Uganda. There may be errors in the transcript.
   
   0:00 AfricaRice Uganda: blazing a trail to rice success
   0:05 Widely known as the pearl of Africa
   0:08 because of its exquisite natural beauty, diverse plant
   0:12 and animal population, and rich mosaic of cultures.
   0:15 Uganda today is drawing attention as a potential rice basket for eastern Africa.
   0:21 Over the last few years the country has been experiencing a remarkable rice boom
   0:27 supported by good farming practices, premium market prices
   0:32 and favorable policies which have stimulated large private investment
   0:36 in the rice sector. The rice development has contributed to greater food security
   0:42 and a reduction in rice imports. For instance, 
   0:45 according to the Ugandan government rice imports dropped between 2005
   0:51 and 2008, which helped save the country about 30 million US dollars in foreign 
   0:56 exchange earnings.
   0:57 The area sown to rice has nearly doubled from about 80,000 hectares
   1:03 in 2002 to about 150,000 hectares in 2011. Similarly,
   1:10 paddy production has shot up from about 120,000 tons in 2002 to more than
   1:16 220,000 tons in 2011.
   1:20 Mr. Robert Anyang, Program Officer,
   1:23 public-private partnership and market access at Susa college global
   1:28 2000 said, “Now the industry has moved from seed to production, to processing
   1:32 and to the markets.” 
   1:39 Yet ten years ago
   1:40 Uganda was barely known among the rice producing countries of the region.
   1:45 So what triggered the rice transformation? In 2000
   1:50 and 2001 when the price of maize plunged (went down / dropped ) in the region
   1:54 the Ugandan farmers and government desperately started looking for
   1:58 alternative crops for food security and income generation.
   2:02 Thanks to the timely help by Sasakawa Global 2000
   2:07 and the National Agricultural Research organization,
   2:10 narrow, short duration upland varieties, including Nerica rice varieties
   2:15 developed by Africa Rice
   2:17 were identified. Nerica 4 was released in 2002.
   2:21 Doctor Jimmy Lamo, rice breeder at NARO,
   2:25 who is actively involved in the Africa Rice breeding task force said,
   2:29 “but we realized that from the year 2002 onwards,
   2:32 Nerica-4 took the market share in terms of area
   2:38 and the production and preference to an extent that by the year 2008
   2:45 around seventy percent of area crop 
   2:48 and the upland was Nerica 4. Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni  
   2:54 launched the upland rice project in 2004 based on strong advocacy by the former
   3:00 vice president, doctor Gilbert Bukenya, 
   3:04 who identified upland rice as a major strategic intervention for food security
   3:07 and poverty reduction.
   3:09 Subsequently upland Nerica 1 and Nerica 10 were released.
   3:14 The rice campaign encouraged several non-governmental organizations and
   3:19 development partners
   3:20 to join forces with the government. These include the Japan international
   3:25 Cooperation Agency,
   3:26 the United Nations Development Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization
   3:31 of the United Nations, Oxfam and the United States Agency for International
   3:36 Development,
   3:37 in addition to Sasakawa global 2000.
   3:40 Major efforts were made by the government
   3:44 and these partners to promote rice and strengthen the capacity of rice farmers,
   3:49 millers, traders and extension workers.
   3:52 The rice scheme also motivated private-sector players such as Naseco
   3:57 seed company and FICA seeds.
   4:00 Nikolai Rodeyns, managing director of NASECO seed company said,
   4:05 “One of the successes, or one of the reasons why Uganda’s successes
   4:09 this is that it is a public-private partnership, so the research
   4:13 organization has done very big parts, and to
   4:16 adaptation of the varieties, so looking in to the right varieties. 
   4:21 Then the second part that has been important is the seed companies
   4:25 really need to take up the role as multipliers and also
   4:28 took part in commercialization. But very very important
   4:32 is the kind of the subsidy scheme and promotional scheme that was put up by
   4:35 the political arm. So again, by the public institutes.
   4:41 NASECO was instrumental in the production and
   4:44 dissemination of certified seed of Nerica 4. 
   4:48 under the brand Suparica 2. Some of the other seed companies
   4:52 that are closely involved with the rice industry are Grow More seeds,
   4:56 Pearl seeds and Victoria seeds.
   5:00 The shift in government policy further stimulated rice production
   5:04 in the country and motivated the private sector to invest heavily in the sector.
   5:10 According to Mr. Robert Anyang, “Uganda doesn’t have the money
   5:14 to support subsidies so the CET (Common external tariff) was the best way to promote 
   5:18 rice production. And when we were able to protect the farmers from that influx of cheap 
   5:24 cheap rice, then production from 83,000 hectares, it was in 1998,
   5:31 jumped to 114,000 hectares.
   5:35 The focus gradually moved from increasing rice production
   5:38 to improving post-harvest handling, value addition and marketing.
   5:43 Mr. Venugopal Pookat, director of Tilda Uganda Limited,
   5:47 one of the leading rice producing companies in the country, said, 
   5:51 “Essentially (voice unclear here, so transcript is incorrect) that rule has been the policy,
   5:53 with east African community, which Uganda took the leadership 
   5:55 in making rice as a profitable crop, and which has proved very, very efficient to
   6:05 Uganda and the east Africa region, because food prices, rice price has 
   6:08 significantly gone up.”
   6:12 Tilda produces different types of rice to fill different market niches.
   6:17 Similarly,   small entrepreneurs have seized the opportunity in Uganda
   6:21 to add value by developing niche products, like parboiled rice,
   6:25 which is not common in Uganda. T he public and private sector partners involved in
   6:30 Uganda’s rice sector are conscious that agricultural intensification goes along
   6:35 with agricultural sector development and market integration at all levels.
   6:41 Mr. Philip Idro, former Ugandan ambassador to China and current director of Upland 
   6:47 Rice Millers Limited (URM) said,
   6:48 “and this success is not just good business in this sense 
   6:53 but this is because we have worked with the farmers and the traders and the financiers  
   6:58 and the policy makers and NGOs
   7:01 along the whole train of all, uh, 
   7:04 value chain.” The Upland Rice Millers Limited rice factory in Jinja,
   7:10 in eastern Uganda, is helping rice farmers to become part of agribusiness
   7:14 networks through which they can sell surplus crops and invest in their farms.
   7:20 For example, rice farmers who bring their paddy to be milled at the factory find a
   7:25 ready market, as they meet with rice traders at the same place.
   7:31 Ms. Joan Rutaroh, program director of Uganda Development Trust (UDET),
   7:35 UDET, observed, “As long as farmers have a market
   7:39 they always respond positively to that market.
   7:43 So production does not become an issue.
   7:47 They will grow the crops as long as they know
   7:50 that they are able to sell them. UDET (Uganda Development Trust)  is a locally NGO
   7:54 which has supported many small and medium rice enterprises
   7:58 by providing technical assistance or arranging agribusiness loans.
   8:02 Ms. Joyce Lalam Otema, a rice farmer from Gulu, affirmed.
   8:07 “With the rice you can’t go wrong. Each time
   8:11 you get a good yield, in two, three months you find that you have
   8:15 sold it all. Lcally you can send it and also you can,
   8:19 you can take it to the mill, the grinding mill.
   8:23 And then people also take it far and wide.”
   8:26 Uganda has about 850 small mills with polishers and whiteners
   8:30 and 15 medium-size mills in addition to the large mill owned by Tilda.
   8:35 The boom in Uganda’s rice production is partly due to the resurgence of the
   8:39 Kibimba rice scheme.
   8:41 Kibimba currently produces about 20,000 tons of rice per year,
   8:46 which is equal to 20 percent of the total rice produced in the country.
   8:50 Although ric e schemes such as Kibimba
   8:53 are huge, they are still small compared to Uganda’s total lowland rice potential
   8:58 (of) About 500,000 hectares are considered suitable for seasonal rice
   9:03 production
   9:03 According to the National Rice development strategy, projections
   9:08 Uganda is expected to produce up to 335,000 tons
   9:12 in 2013 and 500,000 tons in 2018.
   9:21 Mr. Robert Anyang concluded, “With everything in place, with the policy in place, 
   9:25 with support from AfricaRice and the private sector,
   9:26 we can achieve this goal in the next five years.
   9:29 For more information visit www.africarice.org