The Marginal Profitability Share among of Stakeholders in Rice Value Chain: A Case Study in Banian Commune, Faranah Prefecture, Guinea

Africa’s inability to achieve rice self-sufficiency is the result of major constraints in the entire chain of the rice production industry. The study aims to carry out the participatory diagnosis analysis for rice income sector in order to stimulate the yield improvement to stabilize food security. The study was carried out in rural commune of Banian through eleven villages. Data were collected through intensive survey of randomly selected 343 respondents using gross margin analysis and descriptive analysis whiting participatory method. The diagnosis included the producers and rice processors (buyer-steamers and shellers). Assessing these three producer categories, it was indicated that the net income of rice farmers is 140, 313 and 772 US$/ha based on the small, medium and large farming scales respectively and 1.13, 1.14 and1.21 respectively as average benefit cost ratio (BCR) of each producer category. These results revealed that the socio economic factors have a profound influence on profitability of rice production. The second group of rice actors is composed by buyer-steamers and is the main beneficiaries of rice value chain; they are able to generate much higher net incomes with an average BCR of 2.85, followed shellers with an average BCR of 1.23. These figures show that the large scale rice producers, and post-harvest processors are the major profitable stakeholders in the rice value chain, whilst small and medium scale rice growers are the groups sharing the small profits from the direct production. Keywords: Rice production, rice value chain, cost- benefice analysis, gross margin analysis, Guinea