NERICA dramatically increases African rice yields

The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) says rice production in Africa has gone up for the 6th consecutive year, reaching 21.6 million tonnes in 2006, about 6 per cent above 2005 production. A statement by the Nigeria-based International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) said the achievement was as a result of African rice farmers preference for growing "New Rice for Africa (NERICA)", a hybrid paddy rice developed by The African Rice Centre (WARDA) and its partners.

The institute attributed the record harvest growth to favorable weather conditions and the positive effects of the adoption of NERICA rice varieties which has been identified as a major factor in the growth which was the bringing of hope to millions of poor people in Africa. Substantial production increases were reported in Burkina Faso, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo.

Director general of WARDA, Dr. Abdoulaye Seck, said that the recent surge in demand for NERICA seed in Nigeria had helped the country to reduce its rice imports in 2005 by over 800,000 tonnes. He attributed the success to the federal government's measures to increase domestic rice production and decrease rice imports, adding that Nigeria was the largest importer of rice in the world.

Seck said that West Africa was not the only region where NERICA was performing spectacularly. "The varieties have leapfrogged from Guinea to Uganda in Eastern Africa where they are blazing a new trail of success,” he said. “The Uganda Agricultural Productivity Enhancement Programme (APEP), supported by the USAID said that more than 16,000 refugee families from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi residing in Uganda are set to grow NERICA.The programme would assist Ugandan government to address the food security problem and raise incomes from their produce. In addition, 750 Ugandan farmers who were displaced by the civil conflicts have been trained in NERICA production. Also in Uganda, Japan and FAO have launched a US$ 1 million project to promote NERICA for which WARDA is providing the technical support.

“NERICA is also being increasingly used in agricultural rehabilitation efforts in post-conflict countries, such as Sierra Leone , Liberia , Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda ," Seck said.

WARDA is an autonomous inter-governmental research association of African member states. It is also one of the 15 international agricultural research centres supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Researchn (CGIAR).

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