AfricaRice rededicates itself on World Food Day to boost rice production and farmers' incomes in Africa

Today, the Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice), along with people and organizations around the world, observed World Food Day, a day established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for action against hunger. The theme for this year’s World Food Day 2015 is ‘Social Protection and Agriculture: Breaking the Cycle of Rural Poverty.’ This theme has been chosen to draw global attention to the role that social protection plays in eradicating hunger and poverty.

AfricaRice is a leading pan-African research organization with a mission to contribute to poverty alleviation and food security in Africa. It has recently returned its headquarters to Cote d’Ivoire.

AfricaRice research program and partnerships aim at transforming the African rice sector and breaking the chains of poverty by generating capacity for local production, processing and marketing of rice and rapidly decreasing dependence on world markets.

On this important occasion, we thank the rice farming community across Africa for putting rice on our tables and we rededicate ourselves to improving their lives through research and development. We are equally committed to helping our member countries, including Cote d’Ivoire, achieve their objective of rice self-sufficiency and break the cycle of rural poverty.

Dr Harold Roy-Macauley

AfricaRice Director General