Platform for African – European Partnership in Agricultural Research for Development

Monday, April 22, 2013

CGIAR Project Launched to Boost Rice Production in 20 African Countries

Apr 18, 2013. The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) has launched an Africa Development Bank (AfDB) supported project to boost rice production in 20 African countries by atleast 20% in three years.

The project, “Multinational - CGIAR Support to Agricultural Research for Development of Strategic Crops in Africa (SARD-SC)" was launched in Tanzania. It is being implemented in 20 African countries which are mostly dependent on rice imports to meet growing demand for rice. The countries are: Benin Republic, Cote d'Ivoire, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

About $63.24 million will be used for the implementation of the project with the aim to increase rice yield by at least 20% by 2016, improve the income of smallholder's household cash income from the current $370 to $600; and increase food security to 84% from the present 73% in the African countries.

Experts involved in the implementation of the project said that the project will help improve productivity of rice by promoting good farming practices and mechanization to help farmers benefit from the high-yielding rice varieties which have been developed in research institutes in Africa.

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