Faced with high levels of unemployment and lack of job opportunities, the Eastern Cape is set to have a new contender to foster sustainable growth — rice.
The idea of cultivating rice in the province has been in the works for the past three years after research conducted by the Agricultural Research Council (ARC).
The council is exploring suitable environments for the cultivation of large quantities of different types of rice for both the SA and international market.
Since last week, imported rice seeds have been planted at three trial sites in the Eastern Cape — two in Mthatha and one in Port St Johns — to establish and develop upland rice suited to local conditions.
Upland rice (also known as dry rice) is grown in dry-land environments.
One of the sites in Mthatha is in Nonkobe.
The adaptation project, which is also being rolled out in Limpopo, the Free State and Kwazulu-Natal, is part of the national government’s plan to explore sustainable solutions to enhance food security.
ARC researcher Prof Timmy Baloyi said unlike traditional paddy rice, which required large volumes of water, the cultivars being used in the Eastern Cape trials were being tested for their ability to thrive in SA’s diverse soils and increasingly water-scarce climate, potentially laying the foundation for a future domestic rice value chain.
The research and field identification has been conducted by Baloyi and Prof Toi Tsilo.
Baloyi said the objective of the current phase of the adaptation trials was to evaluate the different rice types to see which ones were suitable for growth in different conditions.
More than half of the 100-plus types of rice cultivated globally are being planted at the Eastern Cape sites.
“Some will be suitable for growing under drought conditions, others under saline conditions, meaning that even if it’s too salty in that particular area, others might grow,” Baloyi said.
“Others have different traits, [some] have cold-tolerant traits, others are drought-tolerant while others have various types of traits.
“So, the ones we are planting are upland cultivars, but then we also have different types of other rice cultivars.
“The upland ones mean that they would grow under similar conditions to that of wheat, maize, soybean and the likes.
“Meaning that you don’t grow them under a paddy system like you would see on TV when they show you rice growing under waterlogged conditions.
“So, upland is you prepare the land, dry as it is, you plant there and then you would irrigate as normal and then in other instances you would have a way you are not irrigating under dry-land conditions.
“We do this with the aim of creating more jobs and more opportunities of addressing gaps within the rice value chain.
“The current gap is that there is no production of rice locally within the country,” he said.
SA relies heavily on rice imports from Thailand, India and China.
“With a desktop feasibility study, what we did was we [searched] to find out if rice has been produced anywhere in South Africa.
“We did identify some smallholder farmers but there are very few; we’ve identified only about two smallholder farmers that were producing rice.
“The one was in Limpopo, and the other one was in North West.
“The one in North West was a Chinese farmer who just happened to try and produce rice locally.
“So, he was applying similar systems where they are being applied in China and the likes.
“But then what he did was, he produced rice on small scale,” Baloyi said.
The adaptation phase of the project is expected to last for the next four months.
Depending on the outcome, steps to commercialise rice production could then be initiated.
Baloyi said the council would need a budget of more than R50m to fully equip Eastern Cape farmers and agricultural students to grow rice commercially.
This is well above its R2.5m annual budget for countrywide research for the project.
He said due to budget constraints, the council could not expand its research to other areas in the province.
“We will definitely add some areas in the Eastern Cape as we go forward,” he said.
The department of science and innovation, the Technology Innovation Agency, the department of agriculture, the National Agricultural Marketing Council, Land Bank, farmers associations, universities and seed companies also form part of the project.
If the initiative is successful, local rice producers could secure an estimated profit of R210,000 per tonne of rice sold.
However, Baloyi said this would depend heavily on seed production.
“When this phase has been concluded, it is then when we [will] know [which types of] seed [are] available for further production or commercialisation ...”
One possibility would be to then establish a seed company from which farmers could purchase the rice seeds.
Measures would also need to be implemented to facilitate the marketing of their rice.
Bloemfontein-based agronomy specialist Dr James Alleman said the production of paddy rice would be difficult in the SA climate.
“It requires a lot of water, but if it is upland rice, which requires a minimal amount of water, then it could happen. It depends on the rice planted,” he said.
Eastern Cape agriculture MEC Nonceba Kontsiwe’s spokesperson, Athule Joka, confirmed the department’s involvement in the rice adaptation trials, saying scientists from the OR Tambo district and the Dohne Agricultural Development Institute were participating in the programme.
He said rice already formed part of people’sdiet in the rural areas due to its quick preparation time and energy value, which would support strong market demand.
“If successful, the programme could position Eastern Cape farmers among the few rice producers in the country, adding to KwaZulu-Natal and parts of the Free State, creating a niche opportunity that strengthens food security, climate resilience and farmer competitiveness,” he said.
Agri Eastern Cape president Pieter Cloete expressed scepticism about the plans.
“Never heard of the scheme. Not sure rice is the correct crop for the amount of rain we get unless they are going to irrigate it,” he said.
However, OR Tambo district mayor Mesuli Ngqondwana said the initiative could offer young people the opportunity to participate in the agricultural sector in a district where there was insufficient production and job creation.
“Earlier studies have indicated that the district should now focus on high-value crops to minimise on input and optimise on output and production.”
Mthatha businessman and Eastern Cape Chamber of Business president Vuyisile Ntlabathi said: “We welcome any development that will come into our province.
“We would be very delighted if the initiative would benefit our youth.”
Daily Dispatch
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