Representatives from 16 seed companies
from Benin, Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Zimbabwe and Ghana
participated in a consultation meeting on seed production and dissemination of
hybrid rice developed by AfricaRice, 23-24 January 2019, at the AfricaRice
training center in Saint Louis, Senegal.
Other participants included
representatives from the Senegalese Institute for Agricultural Research (ISRA),
the National Society for Development and Exploitation of the Senegal River
Delta Lands (SAED), extension partners, namely the Senegal Regional Division of
Rural Development (DRDR), seed producers’ associations, AfricaRice and the African
Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), which is the policy enabler of the ‘Technologies
for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT)’ project.
The main objective of the consultative meeting
was to catalyze agribusiness and entrepreneurship development in the rice value
chain in Africa by promoting the deployment of hybrid rice in farming systems. The
meeting was organized by the Rice Compact of the African Development Bank
(AfDB)-funded TAAT project.
In line with its mission to contribute
to food security in Africa, AfricaRice has developed many high-yielding hybrid
lines that have been tested in various African countries. Among these, the aromatic hybrid rice variety,
AR051H, was released in 2017 by (ISRA) as ISRI 9 in Senegal.
The consultation meeting was organized
as a follow-up to a technical meeting, which was organized in October 2018 by AfricaRice
and ISRA in Saint Louis, to promote the production and large-scale
dissemination of hybrid rice across Africa.
The main outcomes of that technical
meeting were the following: 1) Create awareness about hybrid rice; 2) Actively
engage private seed companies, 3) Discuss partnership models, and 4) Develop a
roadmap for the out-scaling of the aromatic hybrid variety (AR051H) on a
sustainable basis.
Based on the recommendations of that
technical meeting, the participants of the consultation meeting discussed the
issue of the status of hybrid rice in the world and agreed that the time has
come for Africa to rely on high-yielding hybrid rice varieties to meet market
demand and tackle food insecurity.
Discussions focused on models of custody
of hybrid rice parental lines, how demonstrations should be conducted in
partnership with the private sector, the need to enhance capacity of
stakeholders, and how to establish sustainable seed production and supply of
hybrid rice in Africa.
Some of the recommendation, which came
out strongly, were the following:
- Custody of the parental lines by AfricaRice of hybrid rice varieties developed by it
- Non-exclusive license model with partners
- Reasonable license payment by SMEs
- Seed production by AfricaRice at its research stations in M’bé (Côte d’Ivoire) and Saint Louis (Senegal) in collaboration with seed enterprises
- Priority engagement with seed enterprises that participated in the consultation meeting.
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