Parboiled rice is rice that has its starch partially gelatinized by soaking paddy rice or brown rice in water followed by steaming and a drying process. A major reason for parboiling rice in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries is to reduce grain breakage during milling although it has also been shown that the water- soluble minerals and vitamins content of parboiled rice are higher than that of non-parboiled rice. Parboiling increases grain translucency and decreases chalkiness due to starch gelatinization. It also increases grain hardness and manages to reduce grain breakage as a result of the swelling of the starchy endosperm during gelatinization, which heals the pre-existing defects. In many SSA countries, artisanal methods of parboiling using diverse rudimentary equipment and procedures are common. In these countries, improving the artisanal parboiling process is a key component of national programs targeted at improving local rice quality. Focal activities in these programmes involve understanding the technicalities in the parboiling process from paddy cleaning through optimum parboiling, drying and milling.