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INVESTING IN WOMEN TO ACCELERATE PROGRESS: “Women Rice Parboilers love Orilux 6 Variety promoted by TAAT” – Yeo Kadokan Inza
My name is YEO KADOKAN INZA, I am the CEO of the seed company SIMAPRES. This company is part of the Union des Sociétés Semencières de Cote d’Ivoire (USSEM-CI), of which I am the Vice-President. This union is an offshoot of our collaboration with the TAAT Rice Compact.
Before, our sector was not organised because of the difficulty in accessing pre-basic seeds. Right from the inception of the TAAT Programme in 2018, TAAT Rice Compact has provided us with pre-basic seeds with high-yielding varieties that are resilient to climate change and much loved by our consumers.
With the varieties from TAAT, we have considerably improved the quality of our local rice, with the creation of seed brands and bags of white rice on the market. Among these seeds, the ORYLUX-6 variety is highly appreciated by women who parboil rice.
All the seed brands and products I’m presenting to you today are the fruit of this partnership, which enables young entrepreneurs like me to make a living from the seed business and, above all, to offer jobs to our farmers.
Over the period 2022-2023, we produced 4,800 tons of certified seed, which we distributed to 120,000 farmers who also benefited from our support. This has improved their yield from 2 tons to 6 tons/ha.
We would like the TAAT Programme to be strengthened with funding for seed conditioning centres equipped with suitable storage infrastructure to enable us to meet the needs of a greater number of farmers.