South Sudan officially submits Letter of Intent to Join Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD – Rice for Africa)

On 5 July 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security of the Republic of South Sudan officially submitted a Letter of Intent to join the Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD) during the 9th CARD General Meeting held in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire from 4 ~ 5 July 2023.

Launched at the 4th TICAD Summit held in Yokohama in 2008, CARD aims to develop rice production in Africa through strategic partnerships based on a common framework of action. The coalition is essentially a partnership between 32 member countries from the African continent, development partners, research agencies and South-South Cooperation Partners. Through this partnership, member countries access tailored consultations and technical assistance designed to enhance rice production in their respective countries.

Africa’s growing population, coupled with increasing urbanization rates, has led to increased consumption of rice as a staple crop in the continent. As a result, rice is quickly becoming one of the most important staple crops in many African countries. Insufficient local rice production drastically impedes economic development due to massive expenditure of hard currency to import rice. Furthermore, climate change severely impacts rice productivity in many African countries as traditional and available seed varieties fail to adapt to climate variability. CARD collaborates with member countries to develop a National Rice Development Strategy that is well suited to address specific challenges related to rice production.

During Phase 1 which started in 2008 until 2018, African member countries doubled annual rice production from 14 million metric tons to 28 million tons by leveraging the technical support from CARD. CARD Phase 2 started in 2019 and aims to double rice production from 28 million metric tons to 56 million metric tons by 2030.

Over 90% of South Sudan is classified as prime agricultural land. Despite this, slightly less than 5% of the land is under cultivation. This contributes to the mounting food insecurity challenges across the young nation. Furthermore, South Sudan is gifted with favorable conditions across agro-ecological zones for rice production. Lowland rice has great potential in flood plains and river plains. The Greenbelt zone is gifted with rich soils and abundant rainfall for cultivation of upland rice.

JICA sincerely looks forward to the confirmation of South Sudan as a CARD member. This will enable South Sudan to access strategic consultations and technical assistance to develop rice production. JICA remains committed to engaging in sustainable and strategic cooperation with the people of South Sudan, to overcome persistent challenges and build a stable, peaceful, and prosperous nation.