| Sumario: | Parboiling and the valorisation of rice by-products play an increasingly critical role in strengthening climate resilience, food security, and women’s economic empowerment within Mali’s rice-based systems. As climate change intensifies production risks through unpredictable rainfall, floods, droughts, and declining soil fertility, post-harvest innovations have emerged as key adaptation strategies that ensure both value addition and reduced losses. From 2022 to 2025, the AICCRA Mali project scaled climate-smart innovations such as the GEM (Grain quality–Energy–Maintenance) parboiling technology and by-product processing to enhance grain quality, nutritional value, income generation, and gender equity across rice value chains. Over 250 women, particularly from cooperatives, are using the GEM paboiler technology, supporting household income and nutrition while reducing greenhouse gas emissions in rice-based systems in Mali. To continue strengthening the capacity of rice value chain actors and scaling the GEM parboiling technology and volatilization of rice byproducts, a one-day capacity-building workshop was held in Bamako.
The workshop held on 22 November 2025 brought together lead women rice processors, extension agents, and researchers to strengthen their capacity in GEM technology, its operational requirements, and its role in improving rice quality and reducing post-harvest losses. Through brainstorming, practical demonstrations, storytelling, video-based learning, and group reflection, participants gained hands-on understanding of parboiling processes, equipment operation, and business opportunities tied to value-added rice products. The workshop revealed significant progress in scaling GEM technology and rice by-products across Mali, but also highlighted constraints linked to limited market access, equipment costs, energy availability, and group governance. Lessons learned from the 2022–2025 AICCRA project point to the need for improved training, financing mechanisms, product standardization support, and stronger linkages between women’s cooperatives and markets.
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