Enough land, enough water

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has enormous potential for developing and increasing rice production. There is tremendous scope for developing rainfed lowland rice areas, augmenting the area under irrigation, and raising yield levels in farmers’ fields through diffusion and adaptation of rice technology to local conditions. The total area of land potentially suitable for crops in Africa is estimated to

Suffisamment de terres, suffisamment d’eau

L’Afrique subsaharienne (ASS) dispose d’un grand potentiel pour développer et augmenter la production rizicole. Il existe de grandes possibilités pour mettre en valeur les zones de bas-fonds rizicoles, augmenter la superficie irriguée et accroître les rendements dans les champs des paysans par la diffusion et l’adaptation des technologies rizicoles aux conditions locales. La superficie totale de

Côte d’Ivoire President’s Inauguration Ceremony

In view of AfricaRice’s historical ties with Côte d’Ivoire,
which is its permanent headquarters, the Director General and the AfricaRice
Country Representative were invited by the Ministry of Scientific Research and
Technology to the inauguration ceremony of the new President in Yamoussoukro on
21 May.



The ceremony was attended by more than 20 heads of state,
representatives from many

L’Afrique a besoin d’une forte recherche agricole

A notre avis, l’Afrique a besoin d’une forte recherche agricole pour produire des technologies adaptées aux conditions africaines. Pour ce qui est de l’investissement dans la recherche agricole, il s’impose car l’Afrique ne contribue que 0,3% au capital des résultats scientifiques du monde. Même si l’Afrique ne compte que

Africa needs strong agricultural research

We believe that Africa needs strong agricultural research to produce technologies adapted to African conditions. Increased investment in African agricultural research is necessary because Africa contributes only 0.3% of the world’s scientific results. Although there are only 70 researchers per million inhabitants in

Africa Rice Breeding Task Force annual meeting

The annual meeting
of the Africa Rice Breeding Task Force was held, 12–13 May, in Cotonou to
review progress made in the first year and discuss plans for 2011. The Breeding
Task Force was launched in June 2010 to regroup scarce human resources devoted
to rice breeding in Africa and help build a new generation of rice breeders
across the continent.


It adopts a
systematic collaborative

Africa Rice Breeding Task Force annual meeting

The annual meeting of the Africa Rice Breeding Task Force was
held, 12–13 May, in Cotonou to review progress made in the first year and
discuss plans for 2011. The Breeding Task Force was launched in June 2010 to
regroup scarce human resources devoted to rice breeding in Africa and help
build a new generation of rice breeders across the continent. It adopts a
systematic collaborative approach

Second phase of the Africa component of STRASA launched

The Africa component of the STRASA project Phase 2 was launched at AfricaRice in Cotonou, on 9–10 May, with nearly 50 participants attending. These included AfricaRice and IRRI scientists as well as project partners from national programs, seed producers and NGOs from 18 African countries. The achievements of Phase 1 were reviewed and work plans for 2011 were presented. The program also

Agricultural experts push for a strong seed sector in West Africa

Underlining that seed security is a prerequisite for
achieving food security, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO) and AfricaRice convened a ‘Regional
workshop on seed policy in West Africa’ in Cotonou, Benin on 5 and 6 May. The workshop was inaugurated by
HE Michel Sogbossi, Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Benin.



The workshop was attended by