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African farmers gaining access to
disease-resistant, 'upland' rice varieties
From an AGRA press release
Kampala, Uganda (April, 23 2007)
— The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) announced
today that African rice breeders have made critical steps towards ensuring
self-sufficiency and boosting African rice production.
 The
successful development and release of stress-tolerant upland and lowland
irrigated rice varieties has begun to significantly increase rice production
in some countries, including Uganda. At the same time, there is the need for
strong government support of rice breeding and seed distribution programs to
maximize gains.
“Only 54% of sub-Saharan Africa rice consumption is
supplied locally,” said AGRA program officer Jane Ininda at the Kampala
meeting. “Farmers need new high-yielding, locally adapted varieties to raise
rice yield and turn around Africa's food crisis situation. Governments
should develop policies that speed up the breeding and distribution of new
varieties. There is need for urgent action here.”
Demand for rice in sub-Saharan Africa is double the rate
of population growth, and consumption is growing faster than that of any
other major food staple. But rather than substantially increasing local
production, demand for imports has surged. In Mali, for example, rice
imports doubled over a four-year period, increasing from 51,969 tones in
2000 to 105,390 tones in 2004.
The announcement was made at the inaugural meeting of
the Rice Breeders Network, a consortium of rice breeders, researchers and
seed companies from more than 10 African countries. Recent advances largely
result from funding from Nairobi-based AGRA, which also announced plans to
support the development and release of new rice varieties in Mozambique,
Kenya, Uganda, Mali, Nigeria and Malawi that will ultimately boost local
production, improve regional food security, and reduce Africa’s
over-reliance on rice imports from Asia. In addition to these countries,
network participants hailed from Benin, Ghana, South Africa and Tanzania.
Recent successes and future efforts focus on breeding
locally adapted varieties of “Nerica” rice, which is a resilient,
high-yielding cross of an African and Asian rice species. Breeders of Nerica
rice won the World Food Prize in 2004. As an “upland” rice, Nerica is not
restricted to growing in paddies, thus enabling African farmers to grow rice
in places that no one before thought possible.
But to make use of Nericas, farmers need locally adapted
varieties that are early maturing, disease resistant, have the aroma and
taste that local communities prefer, and have “spikes” that protect the rice
from hungry birds.
“As long as Africa depends on imports for meeting our
food demands, we will experience food crises as the costs continue to rise
for consumers, said Ngongi Namanga, AGRA’s President. “We must boost local
production. We must grow our own food.”
AGRA is a partnership-based organization that works
across sub-Saharan Africa to end rural poverty and hunger by increasing the
productivity and sustainability of smallholder farming. AGRA is funding the
Rice Breeders Network meeting and many of the new breeding efforts. Its
support of the Rice Breeders Network is part of a comprehensive approach
that embraces everything from the development and distribution of
high-quality seeds, to improving soil health and agricultural education, and
developing markets and infrastructure for agriculture.
The Rice Breeders Network hosted their first meeting in
Uganda, which has scored recent successes in developing upland varieties and
getting them into the hands of farmers. Since 2004, rice farming in Uganda
has grown from 4,000 farmers in 2004 to over 35,000 in 2007 and acreage for
rice growing areas has increased dramatically. In addition, Uganda has
reduced rice importation from 60,000 metric tons (MT) in 2005 to 35,000 MT
in 2007, saving Ugandans roughly $USD 30 million in the process, according
to the Ugandan National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO).
Speaking at the meeting, Dennis Kyetere, head of NARO,
said “African agriculture has always depended on Mother Nature. As a result,
we have experienced 40 years of declining production and an increase in
rural poverty. More than 200 million people are malnourished. This is not a
bible that we should continue quoting in our prayers.”
“Our dependence on Asian rice imports is putting us more
at risk. We must make new varieties available and give farmers access to
them,” he added.
The meeting highlighted current efforts to develop and
release improved disease-resistant rice varieties and to overcome the
barriers that prevent new varieties from reaching farmers and improving food
security. The delayed release of new varieties slows commercialization and
denies farmers access to new improved varieties. This problem further
aggravates food insecurity and poverty among small-scale farm households,
according to AGRA.
In Uganda and Tanzania, new NERICA varieties were
released to farmers in late 2007 and as a result there has been increased
production and consumption on the farm level. From the earlier releases of
three upland rice varieties in Uganda in 2002 courtesy the Rockefeller
support, farmers were able to reap US$9 million in 2005.
 The
meeting also addressed current efforts to tackle diseases such as Rice
Yellow Mottle Virus (RYMV) and Rice Blast that are devastating farmers in
several regions, most recently in Kenya where rice farmers are counting
their losses after this season’s crop was attacked by blast. Some have lost
up to half of this season’s crop.
Meanwhile, Tanzania breeder Dr. Nkonki Kibanda reported
that the country’s Department of Agricultural Services has identified local
varieties resistant to Rice Yellow Mottle Virus, which can decimate 90
percent of rice yield. Kibanda expects that new disease resistant versions
of farmers’ favorite variety, known as Supa, will be available by 2009.
Linking Breeders to Private
Sector: However, the development of new varieties is only a first
step. A second major challenge is multiplying large quantities of the new
varieties and getting them to farmers. This requires that public breeding
institutes work far more closely with small private seed companies, helping
to build an African private seed sector that is responsive to the needs of
small-holder farmers.
According to Ininda, Uganda provides a strong example of
this kind of collaboration. “The activities of companies like FICA, Naseco
and Victoria Seeds, working with public breeders, have been a major part of
the success story of the Nerica rice varieties in Uganda,” she said. Seed
companies have seen annual sales grow from zero to 3,500 metric tons in the
past six years.
In the past, seed distribution was mostly carried out by
national governments with very limited financial resources. For their part,
multinational seed companies have had little to no interest in fostering the
sale of African crops to smallholder farmers, as the profit margin would be
too small. To fill this gap in seed distribution systems, AGRA has begun
facilitating growth in Africa’s private sector by providing loans and
technical assistance to small- and mid-size seed companies, allowing farmers
to access locally adapted, higher quality seed.
“In addition to Uganda, national seed industries are
also taking root in Mali and Mozambique,” said George Bigirwa, the program
officer for AGRA’s African seed production initiative. “For the private seed
sector to grow and effectively serve smallholder farmers, policymakers need
to give these African start-ups the freedom to operate and to access
publicly bred varieties without restriction. Where this is happening,
farmers are gaining access to high-yielding new varieties.”
The Rice Breeders Network, comprised of public and
private sectors, is moving together to tackle these issues.
“We would like other governments to support private
sector entities,” said Bigirwa. “This public-private approach has worked in
Uganda, and, as a result, five new rice varieties have been available to
farmers since 2002. Kenya is quickly moving in this direction as well. We
need other governments to move forward and take the next step.”
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