Sierra Leone loves rice and wants to free itself from imports. But how to do it?

Sierra Leone Reviving Rice - (Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Rice borders on the sacred in Sierra Leone. Unless a meal includes rice, people say, you haven’t eaten at all.

But as prices soar, consumers in the West African nation are giving up other food to buy it. That's a major reason why 83% of the population is food insecure, according to the U.N.’s World Food Program.