K-Rice Belt Project Briefing for Korean Companies: Purposes,
Scales, RFB Process Timeline, Africa’s Local Conditions, ETC.
Sejong, 21 February 2024 — On 15 February, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs held
a briefing, at The-K Hotel Seoul, on the K-Rice Belt project in order to speed up the progress of the project
and encourage Korean companies and industrial associations in the fields of engineering, agricultural
machinery, fertilizers, agricultural chemicals, et cetera to enter markets in Africa.
The K-Rice Belt project was launched to help African countries to improve their rice self-sufficiency
rate through development of high-yielding rice varieties, supply of seeds, technique training, etc.
At the briefing, the ministry explained the project in detail for each African country1), regarding the
project’s background, scales, and schedules (the timeline of the Request for Bid process, etc.),
local conditions, etc., and then, the floor was open to questions.
1) African countries that signed MoUs for the K-Rice Belt project: Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Senegal, Sierra Leone,
Uganda, Cameroon, Kenya, and Côte d'Ivoire.
The agriculture ministry will run a Request for Bid process soon to select firms to carry out project
management consultancy (PMC) services. After the selection of PMC firms has been finalized according
to the procedure, the ministry will kick-start the project into high gear.
Director-General Jeong Hye-ryun of the International Cooperation Bureau said, “I hope that the K-Rice
Belt project will serve as a valuable opportunity to take the relationship between South Korea and Africa
to the next level.”