Rice is one of the most important staple crops in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially in West Africa. In the past decades, demand for rice in the region has been growing faster than anywhere else in the world. The increases in demand cannot be met by local or regional production, as a result up to 40 % of Rice is imported from Asia. Lower processing and marketing infrastructure, missing access to high quality inputs as well as weaker markets disadvantage local production systems.
The ECOWAS Rice Observatory (ERO) and MOVE-CARI wish to announce a call for proposals for support from their Rice Matching Fund concept. The Matching Fund is a co-funding mechanism for engaging private sector enterprises to co-invest in activities that strengthen the rice value chains in West Africa. There are two different funding streams from ERO and GIZ MOVE-CARI respectively, and potential applicant will be able to apply for ONLY one in this round of call.
All ECOWAS Rice Observatory (ERO) National chapter are invited to apply for the ERO funding stream, and Partners from Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Senegal are invited to apply for GIZ MOVE-CARI funding stream, either individually or as part of a consortium. Please see the Matching Fund Application Guidelines for more details on what support is available, who is eligible and the application process.
Private sector organizations from the rice value chain can apply for support and should have a strong interest in the vision to progress towards cost-competitive, cost-effective, sustainable, and nutritious rice self-sufficiency in West Africa through:
· Increased productivity and quality of paddy rice
· Increased efficiency of local rice sourcing, processing, and marketing; and
· Improved commercialization of rice and its by-products.
This Matching Fund call is focused on rice value chain to be transformed through strong business linkages and competitive at each segment of the chain.
Note that this is a multi-stage application process, and proposals from all countries will be reviewed simultaneously. Initially, all applicants are required to submit a short proposal (template provided separately and available to download on www.araa.org or below and, for those applying as part of a consortium, a letter of intent (template provided separately and available to download www.araa.org or below, signed by all members of the consortium.
Applicants should submit these documents to [email protected] or [email protected]. All required documents must be submitted no later than 23 August 2024: applications received after this deadline will not be considered for support from the Matching Fund.
Support
smallholder farmers
Make
self-sufficiency a reality
Mitigate
climate impacts
Create
added value with regional production
If you have any questions regarding the Matching Fund or the application process, please reach out to the ERO team directly via [email protected] and CARI team via [email protected]
Please find below all necessary documents to apply:
