The training, which will cost $4 million, will be funded by Japan under the overall initiative of the Coalition for Africa Rice Development to increase rice production in Africa.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency signed an agreement with the International Rice Research Institute to implement the project.
PhilRice said the training will run for four months and will be conducted at its Central Experiment Station in Nueva Ecija. A total of 25 trainees from Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya will be given training on extension strategies and rice-cultivation technologies.
The extension workers from Africa will be trained on PalayCheck and Palayamanan Systems, which will be implemented come wet season in the Farmers’ Field School in six rain-fed rice communities of Talugtug, Nueva Ecija.
PalayCheck is an integrated crop-management system for rice, while Palayamanan is a diversified rice-based farming system.
The trainees will also be trained on organizing, writing, communicating and documenting the extension activities they will conduct upon return to their respective countries.
In a statement, PhilRice noted that rice consumption in Africa increases by 6 percent a year, with nearly half of its requirements imported at $3.6 billion a year.
Earlier, the World Bank noted in a working paper that sub-Saharan Africa’s rice imports “could otherwise be used to finance infrastructure development.”
