Jointly organized by the Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the African Rice Initiative (ARI) of the Africa
Rice Center, the Seed training workshop was held at the Songhai Center in Porto
Novo, Benin, 3-7 August.
More than 20 technicians, including four women,
from five countries (The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone)
participated in this training course, which had the following objectives:
- • Enhance
the capacity of rice technicians from the national agricultural research and
extension systems of sub-Saharan Africa to produce good quality seeds
- • Enhance
their capacity in varietal maintenance
• Offer
opportunities to them to exchange their experiences and information.
The course consisted of presentations, group
discussions and field exercises. It covered the following areas:
• Principles
of seed multiplication
• Key
steps to quality seed production
• Rice
morphology characters and growth stages
• Post-harvest
operations
• Participatory
varietal selection (PVS) and Community-based seed system (CBSS)
• Common
insect pests and diseases of rice
The participants raised major issues relating to
rice production in their countries, such as the shortage and the high cost of
production inputs; poor funding of research and development; lack of
infrastructures, equipments and qualify human resources; weeds, birds and
rodents.
At the end of the workshop, participants
prepared and presented Action Plans for their respective countries. These plans
were discussed and suggestions for improvement made.
