Green Island Rice Limited
Green Island Rice Limited (“Green Island Rice”) has been established to promote and facilitate rice farming in Mauritius by helping aggregated smallholder farms convert from the cultivation of sugarcane through a ‘Rice Outgrower Scheme’.
Through the Rice Outgrower Scheme, Green Island Rice aims to undertake contract farming of rice on 2,000 ha throughout Mauritius.
Food Security
Rice is the most important staple food in Mauritius. Annually, Mauritius imports 100% of its requirements, approximately 76,000 tonnes of rice. In 2009, the majority of imports were sourced from Thailand (39,000 Tonnes), Pakistan (20,000 Tonnes) and India (17,000 Tonnes).
Mauritius’ complete dependence on the thinly traded international rice market leaves her vulnerable to sudden changes. Green Island Rice is investing in local production of high-quality rice for the domestic market to contribute to Mauritius’ food security, as well as to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers.
Diabetes Epidemic in Mauritius
Mauritius has the world’s second highest incidence of diabetes as a percentage of its population. Every year 400 Mauritians undergo amputations, another 400 have heart surgery and 175 people’s eyes need surgery every week – all due to a disease that is easily preventable, Type 2 diabetes.
Since 1987, the prevalence of diabetes in the Mauritian adult population has increased by more than 60%. Almost one in two Mauritians aged from 25 to 74 is either diabetic or pre-diabetic.
Green Island Rice will produce long grain low GI rice to cater to the large and rapidly growing domestic diabetic and pre-diabetic population.
Smallholder Planters Shifting Away From Sugar Cane
The end of an era of guaranteed price and quota free access for Mauritian produced sugar to the European Union market has caused many smallholder to produce uneconomic sugar crops. Green Island Rice is offering a means for smallholder planters to shift from production of sugar cane.
Through the Rice Outgrower Scheme, Green Island Rice will provide contract farming services to participating farmers. Green Island Rice will supply and operate a range of machinery including tractors, no-till seed drills, chisel ploughs, rotavators and harvesters. High quality inputs including high yielding clean rice seeds produce by Vita Rice Limited, fertiliser and pesticides will also be utilised. Upon harvest, farmers will be paid a guaranteed transparent forward price for their harvested paddy less the contract growing costs.
Through the Rice Outgrower Sceheme, Green Island Rice can ensure farmers access to inputs, storage, drying, milling, finished goods packaging and a guaranteed market for their produce at a transparent forward price.