|
Africa Rice Center:
full steam ahead
 For the first time since September 2002, all the main
elements of Africa Rice Center are together again at one
site in Cotonou. About 90% of its Management,
Administration, Finance and Research staff have been
accommodated in the facilities made available by the
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
and the Institut national de recherches agronomiques du
Bénin (INRAB). The synergy to be gained from uniting in
one place will enable the efficient continuation of the
Center’s mission to contribute to poverty alleviation
and food security in Africa.
I am gratified that since the Center’s relocation to
Cotonou in January/February 2005, we have already
organized five major brainstorming sessions and
meetings: Research Days (March 2005), Board Meeting
(March 2005), Inland Valley Consortium Annual Meeting
(April 2005), ROCARIZ Steering Committee Meeting (April
2005) and the African Rice Initiative Steering Committee
Meeting (April 2005).
All these prove that in spite of their traumatic
experience in November 2004 at the Center’s headquarters
in Côte d’Ivoire, our staff have settled down quickly in
Cotonou, which has proven to be a safe haven for
research. They are vigorously engaged in brainstorming,
planning and doing research. The dedication of all our
staff, the commitment of the networks convened by the
Center and the support of our Board, donors and partners
are truly commendable.
We take this opportunity to thank wholeheartedly the
Government of Benin, IITA and INRAB for helping us to
settle down and carry on our activities with renewed
vigor. The host country agreement was signed within the
shortest span in the history of the Center.
I would like to bring to your attention a few updates
and landmark developments that have great implications
for the future of rice in the subcontinent:
-
The dissemination of NERICA across sub-Saharan Africa
(SSA) is making rapid progress. Today, more than 100 000
ha are cultivated under NERICA in SSA, with Guinea
accounting for 70 000 ha and Uganda for more than 10 000
ha. NERICAs are currently being grown or evaluated in
almost all the countries in SSA.
-
The Eastern and Central Africa Rice Research Network (ECARRN)
established by the Association for Strengthening
Agricultural Research in Eastern & Central Africa (ASARECA)
and hosted by the Africa Rice Center became
operational in January 2005 with the secretariat
offices located in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. As the host
of ECARRN, the Africa Rice Center provides technical
backstopping and financing for the secretariat as well
as the network’s research and development activities.
The Coordinator of ECARRN together with the focal point
for Eastern Africa have been tasked with leading the
expansion of the Center’s activities into the Eastern,
Central and Southern Africa (ECSA) region.
-
 Recently, researchers from the Africa Rice Center and
the African Rice Initiative, in consultation with the
national programs have named 11 new upland NERICA
varieties, based on their excellent performance and high
popularity among farmers in SSA. This brings the total
number of upland NERICA varieties characterized and
named by the Center to 18, including the original seven
NERICA varieties (NERICA 1 – 7) that were named in 2000.
All these 18 NERICA varieties are suitable for the
upland rice ecology of SSA.
-
The multinational African Development Bank-funded NERICA dissemination project in pilot countries of West
Africa was declared effective in February 2005 and funds
will be soon made available so that the project can take
off.
-
A major USAID-funded biotechnology project on the use
of marker-assisted selection started in 2005 and will
greatly enhance the biotechnology capacity of four West
African countries.
-
Mr Gaston Grenier, a Canadian national, was elected as
the new Chair and Mrs Mary Uzo B. Mokwunye, a Nigerian
national, as the new Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees
of the Africa Rice Center. Both of them have been
serving as Board members. The announcements were made at
the conclusion of the 25th Board meeting in March 2005.
-
The Board has decided that the Center staff will
operate from Cotonou with an initial planning horizon of
5 years during which the decision will be regularly
reviewed. Bouaké, Côte d’Ivoire will remain the Center’s
permanent headquarters. The Center’s Campus, including
its research and genebank facilities in Bouaké,
continues to be intact.
-
I will complete my second term as the Africa Rice
Center’s Director General in November 2006. In view of
its unique structure and constitution as an Association
of African member states as well as an international
Center supported by the CGIAR, the Center follows a long
process for recruiting a Director General. The Board
approved the process for the recruitment of a new
Director General who will succeed me.
As you can see from these developments, the Center is
not only back to business but is moving full steam
ahead. I would like to seize this opportunity to thank
all those who have contributed to facilitating the move
to Cotonou, Benin.
Kanayo F. Nwanze
Director General
|
