This Advisory Note provides alternative interventions on how South Africa should address
the persistent but unsustainable reliance on imported rice. These interventions are critical
given that global shocks such as the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic are in most instances not
foreseen, thereby ending up distorting trade. In the case of Covid-19, a number of countries
instituted temporary trade measures which have inevitably disrupted trade in a number of
food items, rice inclusive.