# **Introduction**

Advances in agricultural productivity have been central to economic growth and the structural transformation of most countries, so it is sensible to look for evidence that this process has begun in Africa. Moreover, there is good reason to believe that agriculture-led growth can be especially effective in reducing poverty in Africa. This is partly because the poor are disproportionately rural and dependent on agriculture for their livelihood.<sup>4</sup> But it is also the case that poor households, whether urban or rural, spend a large portion of their income on food. As a result, productivity gains in staple crops like rice and an associated decline in the price of staple foods can bring about spectacular reductions in poverty. The consequence of Asia’s Green Revolution is a recent and dramatic example.<sup>5</sup> What's more, the genesis of Asia's success occurred under conditions similar to those found in Africa today and was closely linked to the successful adoption of a handful of innovative technologies, the most important of which centered on rice. Therefore, there are compelling reasons to look at the role rice might play in an African Green Revolution and to draw comparisons with experiences in Asia. During the course of Asia's Green Revolution, policy makers vigorously promoted new high-input technologies aimed at wheat, rice and other crops grown on smallholder farms. To date, a focus on smallholders and more intensive staple crop technologies – mostly for maize and rice -- has been a pillar of most African agricultural policies as well. Still, the sweeping gains in agricultural productivity and the virtuous structural transformation of national economies that characterized Asia's Green Revolution have yet to reach Africa. Instead, average cultivated land per worker has declined in Sub-Saharan Africa by about 40% since the 1960s and valued added per worker now averages around 12% below 1980 levels (World Development Report 2008).

In this essay, we look closely at the specific case of rice, which was so important to Asia’s Green Revolution and where already available technologies are promising for Africa. We look backward at the role rice has played in African diets and African agriculture during the last 50 years and forward to the potential role rice can play in bringing a Green Revolution to Africa. We draw on lessons from Asia and from Africa, and, in particular, from on-going efforts by IRRI and AfricaRice (formerly WARDA) to promote the use of new rice varieties. Taken together, what we find suggests that the successful development and dissemination of rice technologies has an important role to play in bringing productivity gains to Africa and that there are already signs of success. At the same time, because rice plays a less central role in African diets and livelihoods and because of the geography of Africa, the consequences of success for incomes and poverty are likely to be less sweeping than in Asia. Even so, for some places and for many households in Africa, especially in West Africa,

> 4 According to the World Bank, more than 70 per cent of the continent’s poor people live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihood (World Development Report 2008).

> 5 See Larson and Mundlak (1997); Mundlak, Larson and Butzer (1999), and Otsuka, Estudillo and Sawada (2009).

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