West African governments, development partners, and private sector actors have renewed calls for increased investment in the rice sector, emphasizing its potential to strengthen food security, reduce import dependence, and generate millions of jobs across the region.
The call emerged from the West Africa Rice Investment Roundtable held in Accra, where policymakers, investors, agribusiness leaders, and technical experts gathered to explore financing opportunities and partnerships aimed at accelerating rice production and value chain development throughout the sub-region.
The two-day meeting, organized under the AgriConnect Initiative by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the World Bank Group, and the African Development Bank Group, and hosted by the Government of Ghana, brought together delegations from 15 countries.
Participants highlighted concerns that demand for rice in West Africa continues to outpace domestic production, increasing the region’s reliance on imports. They stressed that achieving regional rice self-sufficiency by 2035 would require substantial and coordinated investments across the rice value chain.
Discussions focused on investment opportunities in irrigation systems, seed development, mechanization, milling facilities, storage infrastructure, transportation networks, and regional trade.
Delegates also presented a pipeline of projects aligned with national rice development strategies and called for stronger policy coordination, improved risk-sharing mechanisms, and enhanced public-private partnerships.
Addressing the gathering, Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang said transforming agriculture required more than increasing production volumes.
“The challenge before us is not just about growing more rice, but also about mobilizing the scale of capital required to transform agriculture from a subsistence sector to commercial production, and from fragmented production to integrated value chains,” she said.
Prof. Opoku-Agyemang described rice as a strategic economic asset capable of creating jobs for young people, improving farmers’ incomes, and strengthening economic resilience against future global shocks.
President of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Alieu Touray, reiterated the bloc’s ambition to build competitive and sustainable agrifood systems across the region.
“Our ambition is clear: to build more competitive, inclusive, and sustainable agrifood systems that strengthen food sovereignty, create economic opportunities, contribute to shared prosperity, and progressively achieve regional rice self-sufficiency by 2035,” he stated.
Dr. Touray said the roundtable should serve as a catalyst for action by strengthening investor confidence, accelerating financing for viable projects, and reinforcing partnerships that support a more resilient regional rice economy.
Participants also endorsed stronger collaboration among governments, regional institutions, development partners, and private investors.
They backed enhanced follow-up through regional coordination mechanisms, including the ECOWAS Rice Observatory, and supported efforts toward establishing a Regional Rice Investment Compact to guide implementation of agreed priorities.
On the sidelines of the event, Ghana launched its AgriConnect Compact, a country-led initiative supported by the World Bank Group that seeks to position agriculture at the center of economic transformation, job creation, and climate resilience.
According to organizers, the initiative aims to create more than 2.6 million jobs, improve food and nutrition security for nearly three million people, and mobilize a $3.5 billion investment programme over the next five years.
The Compact prioritizes strategic value chains including rice, maize, cocoa, oil palm, and poultry, while promoting reforms designed to improve productivity and attract private sector investment. It also incorporates investments in irrigation, mechanization, climate-smart agriculture, and digital innovation.
World Bank Group Vice-President for Planet, Guangzhe Chen, said the region already possesses the leadership and project pipeline needed to drive meaningful transformation in the sector.
“West Africa has both the pipeline and leadership to accelerate real transformation in the rice sector. Ghana’s AgriConnect Compact demonstrates how this agenda can deliver jobs, strengthen resilience, and drive inclusive growth at scale,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of the African Development Bank, Richard Ofori-Mante emphasized the need to view agriculture as a productive economic sector rather than solely a social intervention.
He noted that the rice value chain presents significant opportunities for young Africans in areas such as irrigation services, mechanization, processing, logistics, digital agriculture, and agribusiness entrepreneurship, adding that unlocking these opportunities would be critical to converting the continent’s growing population into an economic advantage.
