Reverse Linkage

48 REVERSE LINKAGE S uriname, South America, borders the Atlantic Ocean to the north, Guyana to the west, French Guiana to the east, and Brazil to the south. It is half the world away fromMalaysia but the greenery, horizons, balmy climate and even the multi-ethnic diaspora bear an uncanny resemblance to those of Malaysia. The country is dominated by the Amazon jungle but its rolling hills and narrow coastal plain with swamps is where most of the people live and where the agricultural land is mainly devoted to rice, the main staple of its population. In November 2013, the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) launched an InterimMember Country Partnership Strategy (MCPS) to coincide with the visit of its vice president (oper- ations) to Suriname. As a result, various developmental programmes were put forward to assist in further advancing the country’s economic and social well-being. One identified area was the requirement to improve the sustainability of its rice industry. Rice is Suriname’s most important agricultural crop, with the highest share in total value of agricultural production, including cultivated area, contribution to GDP, foreign exchange earnings, and direct employment. As the coun- try’s agro-ecological conditions make it favourable for rice production, around 62,210ha of land area is dedicated to rice, especially in the northern districts of Nickerie (where 75 per cent of its area reserved for rice), Saramacca (10 per cent), and Coronie (7 per cent). In 2014, annual rice consump- tion in Suriname amounted to 68kg per head of population, representing an energy supply of 629kcals per day and 25 per cent of the total per capita calorie intake. In the same year, the country produced 275,851t of rice, with around 103,755t exported to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), South America, North America and Europe, amounting to US$55.33 million in transfer incomes. The rice sector in Suriname directly employs approximately 1,500 farmers while giving additional employment to nearly 5,000 people in retail, transport, and service provision. Despite these statistics, farmers have increasingly been calling for government intervention to restructure the country’s rice value chain in order for it to be more sustain- able as well as remain competitive in international rice markets. With this in mind, IsDB decided to approach MARDI Corporation (previously Marditech Corporation and MARDI Holdings) with the possibility of contributing its expertise through a Reverse Linkage (RL) programme. MARDI Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute (MARDI), an agency underMalaysia’sMinistry of Agriculture and Agro Based Industry. WhileMARDI generates inventions and technological innovations to cater for the needs of the agriculture industry, it also creates knowledge bases. This comes through research and development (R&D) activities conducted bymore than 500 scientists and spread over various disciplines. To complement efforts to ensure that solutions delivered to the industry are holistic, MARDI Corporation carries out value extraction and upscaling of MARDI’s R&D and expertise as well as promotion to stakeholders and clients based on their specific needs and requirements. MARDI hasmore than 45 years of experience in rice produc- tion, and has been able to create 44 rice varieties. In addition, the institute has produced a manual for rice cultivation and From a grain of rice – Reverse Linkage between Suriname and Malaysia MARDI Corporation MARDI Corporation with His Excellency Soeresh Algoe, Minister of LVV, Suriname, and his staff, together with Aminuddin Mat Ariff, senior capacity development specialist, IsDB, and Ambassador Anwar Lall Mohamed, special advisor to the president of Suriname on development and investment matters, and also Suriname’s alternate IsDB governor Image: MARDI Corporation