GUINEA RICE

closed

Over five years the Rice Development Project will assist the Guinean Government to develop its rice sector. Through its national component the project will: (a) strengthen the ministry of agriculture by establishing a specialized unit for the planning and coordination of the country's rice development program including consultant assistance and fellowship funds for the training of Guinean cadres; (b) upgrade the country's agronomic rice research in order to provide a testing and demonstration capacity for introducing technical improvements; (c) undertake a pricing study to assist Government to restructure agricultural prices so as to provide appropriate incentives to its rural sector; and (d) prepare for a future agricultural development project in Upper Guinea. The project also contains a regional component, a pilot project to be carried out in Guinea's forest region to test and develop technical improvements to rice cultivation practices of farmers. If the pilot operation is a success, it will constitute the basis for a follow-up project in that area.