[00:00.00]From VOA Learning English,
[00:02.80]this is the Agriculture Report.
[00:05.70]Researchers are developing ways
[00:08.96]to increase rice production in Africa
[00:11.85]as part of efforts to fight hunger.
[00:15.54]Their work was discussed
[00:17.89]at the African Rice Congress in Cameroon last month.
[00:22.29]Experts say 60 percent of the thirty million tons of
[00:28.34]rice used in Africa is imported from Asia.
[00:33.60]They estimate that Africa spends $5 billion
[00:38.52]on rice imports every year.
[00:41.42]And yet the United Nations
[00:44.47]Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says
[00:48.17]they are still rice shortages on the continent.
[00:52.06]Rice production was reduced in some countries
[00:57.27]after the economic crisis of the 1990s.
[01:01.57]Samantana Mark is director general of
[01:05.48]Cameroon's rice production company, SEMRY.
[01:09.83]He says that with beginning of the crisis,
[01:13.78]African countries stopped making investments
[01:19.25]in rice production and in the marketing of rice.
[01:23.55]Issues like climate change and extreme temperatures
[01:29.18]have slowed rice production,
[01:31.53]especially in areas south of the Saharan desert.
[01:35.98]Plant disease is also a problem.
[01:40.01]But some African researchers say
[01:43.91]they have developed rice plants
[01:46.53]that can grow in areas with little rain fall.
[01:51.09]Nigerian-born Adekoya Madinat works with
[01:56.14]the Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
[02:00.54]"With this research we try to see how much water
[02:03.55]exactly is needed for rice production
[02:06.12]and try to see which genes are actually recruited
[02:10.47]during the event of droughts.
[02:12.72]So these genes can be used to develop drought-resistant varieties
[02:16.53]that can be plante with minimal water
[02:18.97]and we still have very good yields and food security," said Madinat.
[02:22.59]Delegates to the congress called for
[02:25.53]great mechanization of African agriculture,
[02:29.38]and they agree that investing in rice production requires a lot of money.
[02:36.36]Robert Guei works for the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.
[02:43.99]He says that investments in rice production
[02:47.44]should be a top issue for African governments 
[02:51.34]seeking to end hunger and poverty.
[02:55.11]"African governments have to support small companies.
[02:59.06]These people have to be encouraged
[03:00.87]so governments have to come out with good policies
[03:03.66]whereby these companies are subsidized.
[03:06.47]Help them to have credits to banks and loans
[03:10.47]so that they can produce these varieties of rice
[03:14.09]and distribute and this is what FAO is doing now,
[03:16.80]talking to governments to set up policies," said Guei.
[03:19.00]Experts say that currently,
[03:21.20]African countries produce about 12 million tons of rice per year.
[03:27.31]And that's the Agriculture Report from VOA Learning English.
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