We focused on the three primary types of rice production environment in Africa: irrigated rice, rainfed lowland rice, and rainfed upland rice production27 (Supplementary Tables 2 and 3). Current (2018-2020) and future (2050) rice demand and self-sufficiencyWe considered the average annual domestic rice demand during the 2018–2020 period as the baseline for our study (Fig. In our study, all rice yield, production, per-capita rice demand, and total rice demand were reported as paddy rice at a standard moisture content of 140 g H 2 O kg−1 rice grain. The SSR was calculated for each country by dividing the annual rice production by the annual rice demand, while net import or exports was determined by subtracting the annual rice production from the annual rice demand. For the purpose of area expansion assessment, we considered three scenarios for rice area expansion by 2050: (i) expanding harvested rice area by 0.4 M ha annually, which is the historical rice area expansion rate in Africa over the past three decades, (ii) expanding harvested rice area at an annual rate of 0.2 M ha, representing a 50% reduction in the historical expansion rate, and (iii) expanding harvested rice area at an annual rate of 0.6 M ha, equivalent to a 50% increase in the historical expansion rate.
