Rice is nice

While in Arusha, I took a bit of time to better understand the rice market. After Madagascar, Tanzania is the second largest producer of rice in East Africa, and there seems to be a lot of potential to grow. So while in the northern part of the country, I began my quest for greater understanding in the local market, where I was swarmed by retailers, showcasing their bulk rice from Mbeya and Magugu, and only a couple other locales which were at lower prices. Mbeya is literally across the country, in the southwest corner, but this aromatic variety is so popular that it's shipped up to the northeast. Magugu is a couple hours south of town, but is sold at nearly the same price as Mbeya. At the wholesale market across town, I met with Mama Tatu, who was eager to sell me her 100kg bag she had brought from Magugu. Just across the street, but in a starkly different environment, I paced the clean-swept aisles of the supermarket to find Mbeya and Magugu rice, along with a number of South African packaged parboiled and specialty rices. And in this lovely globalized world, I found Thai rice packaged for a U.S. company, sold in Tanzania. Later the next day I traveled down to Magugu to meet with an agriculture extension officer who shared valuable insights about the local market. And on my ride back to Dar, I continued my observations, as we passed by some rice paddy fields. I'm still far from being an expert, but feel like I learned a lot about rice this week. Here's a bit of Swahili for you, too. Mchele is the uncooked rice, but when it's cooked, it's called wali. Go figure.