|
The Response
To address
the rice challenge of the region, WARDA—The Africa Rice Center— took
groundbreaking initiatives.
Focus on poor farmers’ ecology. WARDA
scientists first focused their attention on upland or dryland ecology,
because:
• It
represents about 40% of the total area under rice cultivation in WCA and
employs about 70% of the region’s rice farmers.
• The
majority of upland rice farmers in the region are women, who lacked
appropriate varieties to help reduce the strain of their back-breaking
work.
Characteristics of Asian
and African rice species
|
Oryza sativa
• High
yield potential, but low adaptation to rainfed uplands.
• Has
replaced O. glaberrima over much of the rice-cultivated area.
|
Oryza glaberrima
• Low
yield, but a rich reservoir of genes for resistance to local stresses.
• Almost
totally abandoned by farmers. 
|
Combining
the best of the two rice species. WARDA
scientists decided to combine the toughness of O. glaberrima with
the productivity of O. sativa. This was a formidable scientific
challenge, because the two species have evolved separately over millennia
and are so different that many previous attempts did not lead to reliable
variety development.
Using
molecular biology, the scientists, in association with an array of
partners from around the world, overcame hybrid sterility—the main
problem in crossing the species. This also allowed them to accelerate the
breeding process from 5–7 years to 2 years or less. The fruit of this
effort was the New Rice for Africa (NERICA), which presents several
advantages over traditional varieties. NERICA is not just one variety;
over 3000 family lines have been developed, opening up a new world of rice
biodiversity.
|
