Rice is playing a key role
in providing food security for the poorest categories of rural and urban
populations in Africa. It is the leading provider of food calories in West Africa
and in Madagascar, and is now the second largest source of food energy in
sub-Saharan Africa as a whole.
AfricaRice is pleased to
announce the release of its Annual Report 2011, which provides compelling
highlights of the work carried out by the Center and its partners to
sustainably boost the rice sector in Africa by bringing
rice research and development to the aid of Africa’s poor.
Entitled
“A new rice research for development strategy for Africa,” AfricaRice’s Annual Report
features a special focus on the Center’s new 10-year Strategic Plan, which will
guide the implementation of its activities to realize Africa’s tremendous rice
potential.
The
Report demonstrates the strategic vision and the dynamism of the Center in
terms of research, partnership and policy advocacy.
It
highlights the progress made in using molecular approaches to strengthen rice breeding
programs in Africa, developing a systematic approach to varietal evaluation, building
Africa’s rice breeding capacity and addressing the bottlenecks affecting the
production and deployment of improved rice seed across the continent.
Research
briefs on rice value chains, small-scale mechanization and consumer preferences
for rice attributes show the shift in focus of the Center’s strategy from
supply-driven research to more demand- or market-driven research.
Other
features include a case study of Ethiopia’s remarkable rice boom and a profile
of Canada, which has been an important donor of AfricaRice for over 20 years.
Updates on the Center’s training activities and publications are also provided.
AfricaRice
is an intergovernmental association of African member countries and one of the
15 international agricultural research Centers that are members of the CGIAR
Consortium. It is also a major player in the CGIAR Research Program on Rice –
the Global Rice Science Partnership (GRiSP) – taking the lead in GRiSP
activities across Africa.
