More than 70 stakeholders and partners in the West African rice sector familiarized themselves with the Remote Sensing Information and Insurance Tool (RIICE) during a technical workshop organized by the ECOWAS Rice Observatory (ERO) on January 25, 2024 online.

This introductory workshop enabled stakeholders in the rice sector from Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire and 6 countries in the West Africa Food System Resilience Program (FSRP) – Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Sierra Leone, Senegal, and Togo – to understand how RIICE works and how it is deployed in the field.

Despite the importance of rice in Africa, the lack of detailed data on cultivated areas and yields is a challenge for research and policy. The use of this tool aims to fill this gap and revolutionize data-driven decision-making in rice production, contributing to insurance and sustainable agricultural practices in the region.

RIICE uses remote-sensing to improve rice production systems and provides spatially explicit data on rice cultivation, yield forecasts and information on seasonal losses. It is currently supported by initiatives of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) in collaboration with AfricaRice and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

The ERO national chapter teams have shown an interest in better understanding the RIICE to ensure its deployment in the field. With the support of ECOWAS, through the ERO Executive Secretariat, the RIICE is currently being tested in some countries and is to be extended to the region as it aligns with the mandate of the ERO technical committee on research and development of water systems.