"Rice used to be reserved for special days, like religious holidays, baptisms, weddings [and] popular celebrations. But today, across Mali, rice is prepared [everyday] at noon. In Bamako it is worse - there are those who eat it both day and night," Bintou Diallo, the head of a women's rice-growing cooperative 300km east of Bamako, told IRIN.
Conference organisers estimate that 40 percent of the rice consumed annually in Africa is imported - about 10 million tons - which cost US$2 billion in 2006.
