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Tendai Rupapa

Senior Reporter

A Japanese expert in New Rice for Africa (NERICA) is in the country at the invitation of First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa to lay the groundwork for large-scale rice production in Zimbabwe.

Dr Tatsushi Tsuboi is a rice expert under the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and his visit confirms First Lady’s hard work to benefit Zimbabweans.

Dr Tsuboi yesterday visited the First Lady at her Zimbabwe House offices in the company of Japanese Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Satoshi Tanaka and JICA officials where he expressed willingness to work with Agric4She patron Dr Mnangagwa and the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development in making the rice venture possible.

This, Amai Mnangagwa said, would enhance the country’s food security, empower women and reduce the need to import the popular cereal.

Currently, Zimbabwe is importing over 80 percent of rice.

NERICA has been developed through crossing African rice species – resistant to disease and drought – with high yield Asian rice species with the assistance from Japan.

Last November, Dr Mnangagwa attended the Asia Pacific Africa Women’s Economic Exchange Summit in Japan which explored ways of securing food self-sufficiency for the future of children.

It is during this conference that Dr Tsuboi made a presentation on NERICA production in African countries and how women were playing an active role in the sector.

Zimbabwe, however, was not mentioned as a beneficiary of the rice production prompting Amai Mnangagwa to hold separate side meetings with Dr Tsuboi, Mr Akutsu Kentaro, the JICA senior director in charge of cooperation with Southern African countries, Mr Amameishi Shinjiro, the deputy director-general and group director for agricultural and rural development and JICA senior vice president Mrs Imoto Sachiko during which she requested NERICA rice production initiatives in Zimbabwe.

The First Lady thanked Dr Tsuboi for accepting her invitation saying that as Agric4She patron, she was looking forward to seeing women leading in the NERICA production.

She highlighted that the involvement of women in large scale rice production would yield positive results.

“I want to thank Dr Tatsushi Tsuboi for accepting the invitation that I extended to him when we visited Japan in November last year. We were invited to Japan as African First Ladies.

“During our discussions and presentations by different speakers including Dr Tsuboi, I picked that some other African countries were already involved in large-scale NERICA production.

“I then asked myself why Zimbabwe was not involved. I wondered why we missed it,” she said.

She said she decided to engage the relevant people in the rice production for the benefit of Zimbabwe.

“After the programme, I held separate meetings with JICA senior officials including Dr Tsuboi and made a humble request for the NERICA rice production initiatives in Zimbabwe. I then invited Dr Tsuboi as the rice expert to visit Zimbabwe.

“I did not know that Dr Tsuboi had once visited Zimbabwe some years ago and he knows our country’s rainfall patterns and our temperatures.

“Today, he has honoured my invitation and he has come to Zimbabwe to make sure we are also involved in NERICA production.

“As the Agric4She patron, I am working with women countrywide involving them in agriculture production. Women constitute 52 percent of the country’s population and they are taking the Agric4She programme seriously,” the First Lady said.

The coming in of NERICA production, Amai Mnangagwa said, would boost women’s participation in agriculture.

“What I saw and discovered in Japan is that women are the ones involved in rice production and they bring results. Uganda is another African country which is in the said rice production and they are producing more than enough.

“Rice is also now coming in as a staple food alongside our sadza. I want to thank Ambassador Satoshi Tanaka and the JICA Team for coming with Dr Tsuboi. I am now handing you over to the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development so that they work with you,” she said.

Dr Tsuboi said he was willing to transfer his vast knowledge through a ‘train the trainer” programme and farmer capacity building.

He thanked the First Lady for inviting him to Zimbabwe adding that the climate patterns in Zimbabwe were suitable for the rice production.

“First and foremost, I would like to thank the First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa for inviting me to Zimbabwe. I came to Zimbabwe 16 years ago and I visited several areas. We checked the country’s rainfall patterns and temperatures and discovered that rainfall in November to March is suitable for rice production and temperatures will be high.

Agric4SHE patron First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa during the meeting with visiting Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) NERICA rice production expert Dr Tatsushi Tsuboi and his team, Japanese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Satoshi Tanaka, Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement Permanent Secretary Dr John Basera and his officials at Zimbabwe House yesterday

“When I went back to Japan, I never returned to Zimbabwe due to some circumstances. Last year in November at an international conference, I made a presentation to African First Ladies on NERICA. Dr Mnangagwa was present. I highlighted African countries that are involved in the rice production and that women were the ones mainly involved and realising income. Even in Japan, women are the ones involved in rice farming.

“Dr Mnangagwa then approached me and we had a discussion before she invited me to Zimbabwe so that we could map the way forward for Zimbabwe to be involved.

“I was about to go on retirement but here I am today. I told myself that I must do something for Zimbabwe. We need to produce more rice in Zimbabwe,” he said.

Ambassador Tanaka said the meeting between the First Lady and Dr Tsuboi last year was a good start for the partnership in terms of rice production in Zimbabwe.

He pledged his country’s commitment to support Zimbabwe in the agriculture sector.

“The First Lady invited Dr Tsuboi to Zimbabwe having met him last year in Japan. That was a very important moment. Japanese government has supported Zimbabwe in a lot of sectors. Agriculture for food security is an important area. Unfortunately, rice production was not a part of our support in the past few years. The meeting of the First Lady and Dr Tsuboi last year was a good start for the partnership in terms of rice production. Some parts of Zimbabwe, the climate is very good for rice production so this is a good opportunity. We need to explore with the experts working with the ministry of Agriculture and see how far we can go,” he said.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement, Dr John Basera said localised rice production would reduce dependence on imports.

He added that the First Lady who is already promoting women’s participation in the agriculture value chain as the Agric4She patron, will lead the women in rice production.

“We would like to thank the First Lady Dr Mnangagwa for extending an invitation to Dr Tsuboi to come to Zimbabwe so that he shares his vast knowledge in rice production in Zimbabwe. Rice is becoming a strategic crop which we definitely need to promote in Zimbabwe.

“Because of changing eating habits, rice is becoming a staple food. Currently we are importing over 80 percent of rice which we consume in Zimbabwe. We need to reverse that. As such it is one of the value chains we need to localise so that we achieve import substitution.

“Geographically and climatically we do have potential to produce NERICA in Zimbabwe. As the ministry, we are going to host Dr Tsuboi at technical level and we will visit research sites in Zimbabwe,” he said.

He said the First Lady had implored them to go full scale in terms of commercialising rice production in Zimbabwe especially targeting small holder farmers and women who constitute 52 percent of population.

“The First Lady has been championing Agric4She initiatives, therefore, she will also be leading women in NERICA production. The first point is capacity building whereby Dr Tsuboi will be talking to rice researchers in Zimbabwe and that will be under the training of trainers programme. The trainers will then train the small holder farming community. We need to attain rice self-sufficiency as a nation and it has to start at household-level,” he said.

There is potential to export if the project succeeds and is being held at a large-scale, hence contributing to economic development.

The production will also empower women through allowing for income generation and improved nutrition within households.