Soo-Hyang Choi<\/b><\/p>\n
Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>South Korea is set to sign an agreement next week with eight African nations to help boost rice production and cut their dependence on imports, Agriculture Minister Chung Hwang-keun told Reuters, amid concerns over food security on the continent.<\/p>\n The move also comes as President Yoon Suk Yeol has pledged to revamp South Korea’s foreign policy and make it a “global pivotal state” playing a more active role around the world.<\/p>\n Under the “K-Ricebelt Project”, South Korea will build facilities in Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia, Senegal, Cameroon, Uganda and Kenya to produce rice seeds that better suit local conditions and have yields two to three times higher than domestic varieties, Chung said in an interview this week.<\/p>\n The minister said during several visits to Africa starting late last year officials told him they desperately needed help.<\/p>\n “It was when food security was a global issue. Rice prices had almost doubled due to supply chain disruptions,” Chung said, noting how food imports had squeezed the countries’ foreign exchange reserves.<\/p>\n Rice is a staple in West Africa, but local production only meets around 60% of demand, according to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). This means the region is very exposed to global price volatility and trade disruptions.<\/p>\n An agriculture ministry official said South Korea planned to spend more than 100 billion won ($77 million) on the food project over the next four years, with a goal of distributing 10,000 tonnes of rice seeds every year from 2027.<\/p>\n “President Yoon Suk Yeol has been very clear about this, that we should come forward to help because we were the ones getting help during the difficult times,” Chung said.<\/p>\n South Korea has been able to produce enough rice to meet more than 90% of local demand, though still depends heavily on some other food imports.<\/p>\n Agriculture ministers from the eight participating African countries are due to visit Seoul to sign agreements on the project on Monday.<\/p>\n The United Nations’ World Food Programme welcomed the move.<\/p>\n “The K-Rice project will bring outstanding rice varieties and hope to the small farmers in Africa suffering from the climate crisis,” Marian Sunhee Yun, the director of WFP Korea Office, said.<\/p>\n For More News And Analysis About Rwanda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Soo-Hyang Choi Africa-Press – Rwanda. South Korea is set to sign an agreement next week with eight African nations to help boost rice production and cut their dependence on imports, Agriculture Minister Chung Hwang-keun told Reuters, amid concerns over food security on the continent. The move also comes as President Yoon Suk Yeol has pledged […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":46607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,15],"tags":[760,763,758],"class_list":["post-46608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-rwanda","tag-rwanda"],"yoast_head":"\n