Chad

General Information

· Main climates: Tropical Desert and Arid, Tropical Steppe and Semiarid, Tropical Desert and Arid upland at 600 m above sea, Tropical Wet and Dry

· Total land area: 125 920 000 ha

· Internal renewable water resources: 15 km³

· Incoming water flow: 28 km³

· GNP per capita, 1998: PPP$ 843

· Main food consumed: Millet & sorghum, Roots & tubers, Nuts, Oil & fat, Sugar & honey

· Rice supply, 1999: 15.9 kg paddy/capita/year

Basic Statistics

Producing Zones and Cropping Seasons

Rice is cultivated only in Soudanian climate areas. The following table shows the rice-harvested areas from different producing zones.

In irrigated areas a second rice crop is usually grown after the main season.

Production Practices

The following figure shows the harvested areas from different ecologies during the last five years.

Upland rice is grown as a mono-crop or as in a mixture with other food crops following the slash-and-burn shifting cultivation and rainfed lowland rice is cultivated following traditional systems almost without any application of chemical fertilizer and other ago-chemical. In irrigated areas, support for farmers with regard to input supply has been greatly reduced. Land preparation in rainfed lowland areas is done mostly manually, while that in irrigated areas animal traction has been introduced. Transplanting is the dominant method of crop establishment in lowland systems. Weeding is generally done manually. Farmers do not have appropriate tools and equipment for harvesting and threshing of rice. A number of improved rice varieties have been released for cultivation.

Constraints and Issues of Sustainable Production

There are several constraints to sustainable rice production in Chad. Following are the majors:

• Low temperature during off-season in irrigated areas.

• Recurrent drought and flood in rainfed lowland areas.

• Lack of input supplies: improved seeds, fertilizer and credit.

• Lack of small farm equipment especially for post harvest operations.

• Lack of effective farmer organization and co-operative.

• Poor maintenance of irrigation facilities.

• Poor road networks and marketing systems.

• Weak research and extension support.

The following table shows the rice production costs.

Sustainable rice production depends greatly on appropriate policy to provide farmers with support in inputs supply and marketing of products. The improvement of water supply and control in rice production is essential.

Research and Development Institutes

• Ministere Developpement Rural BP 441 N'Djamena

• Ferme Expérimental et de Production des semences, Office de mise en valeur de Sategui-Deressia, B.P. 475 N'djamena or B.P. 33 Lai, Chad.

• Programme Riz, Bureau de Recherche Agronomique, Ministère de l'agriculture, B.P. 441 N'Djamena, Chad.

• Office de mise en valeur pour la Plaine de Sategui et Deressia, B.P. 475, N'Djamena, Telex: 5252

• Division de production agricole, Casier A et B, Bongor, Direction de la recherche agronomique, Ministere de l'agriculture, B.P. 441, N'Djamena, Telex: 5303 MINAGRI, Fax: 515119

• Direction de la Recherche Agronomique, D.R.T.A., B.P. 441 - N'Djamena, Chad, Tel: (235) 51 29 60/53 30 23, Fax: (235) 52 44 84/51 51 19/52 51 19/51 42 35

• Bureau de la Recherche Agronomique, BP 441 N’Djamena, Chad, Tel: (235) 51 29 60, Fax: (235) 52 44 84/51 51 19

• Programme Riz, Institut Tchadien de Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (ITRAD), BP 5400, N’Djamena, Tel.: (235) 533023/291670, Fax: (235) 527145/525119

• Direction de la production agricole (DPA), BP 1059, N’Djamena, Tel.: (235) 516032/298629