Rice Project for Africa and Asia

Scientists are meeting at the Africa Rice Center (WARDA), Cotonou, Benin to launch a US$19.9 million project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on stress tolerant rice for poor farmers in Africa and Asia. The three- year project will be carried out by the International Rice Research Institute and its partners. The African component will be implemented by IRRI and WARDA, centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

The goal is to make available to resource-poor farmers stress-tolerant rice varieties which in complement with improved management practices, will bring about a 50% increase in farmers’ yields within the next 10 years. The project member countries in Africa comprise Benin, Burkina Faso, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal in West Africa as well as Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda in eastern and southern Africa.

Read the press release at http://www.warda.org/warda/newsrel-launch-mar08.asp