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Molecular Plant Breeding 2011, Vol.2, No.11, 75
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imported rice sold in the local market.
New NERICA varieties can smother weeds like the
African parents, resist drought and pests or can thrive
in poor soils. They have strong stem, produce more
tillers and bear longer panicles than either parent. The
strong stem can support heavy panicles, like its Asian
parents NERICA has a high yield. The grain head
holds 300 to 400 grains compared to the 75 to 100
grains of traditional varieties grown in the region. Its
strong stems and heads prevent shattering, and the
taller plants make harvesting easier.
6 Grain quality
Studies on the milled NERICA varieties showed that it
has higher protein contents and a better balance of
amino-acids compared to both imported varieties and
the international Rice standard.
Hence, the high protein content and good balance of
essential amino-acids in its varieties can play a sig-
nificant role in combating malnutrition in many
sub-saharian countries where rice is the main staple
food. One could calculate the Africa-wide benefits of
this extra protein from many angles: health, sub-
stitution for costlier protein sources, mental deve-
lopment in youth, etc. Number of varieties also shows a
high micro nutriment (Iron and Zinc) concentration.
7 Achievements
The Africa rice center reports on the NERICAs project
achievements so far, the report is as follow. In Nigeria,
the new rice has resulted in over 30% expansion in
upland rice cultivation. In Guinea the NERICA area
has quickly superseded the modern varieties intro-
duced by the national system.
Since Uganda launched the Upland Rice Project in
2004, in which NERICA is a major component, the
Ugandan National Agricultural Research Organization
(NARO) reports an almost nine-fold increase in the
number of rice farmers from 4 000 to over 35 000 in
2007. At the same time, the country has almost halved
its rice imports from 60 000 tones in 2005 to 35 000 in
2007, saving roughly US$30 million in the process.
While farmers cultivate previously released varieties,
over 100 examples of new material have been in-
troduced through a PVS (participatory varietal selec-
tion) approach during a 4
-
year period, and many new
promising varieties have been identified by farmers:
NERICAs 8, 9, 10 and 11 are the most popular; they
are extra early and have good grain quality. To faci-
litate adoption and increase utilization, all named or
newly introduced varieties are characterized and
results are made available to the public. Seed purity
and homogeneity are also addressed regularly in order
to ensure the good quality of the seed produced and
distributed to end-users. To increase the productivity
of the NERICAs, complementary technologies (e.g.
fertilizer rate and timing, crop density, weeding re-
gime, sowing depth and harvest timing) are under eva-
luation: results will be published in appropriate journals.
NERICA was registered as a trademark with the
USPTO in 2004, and as the expanding range of
NERICA products are adopted by ever more small-
holder farmers, CAS-IP notes that it will be increa-
singly important to protect the quality associations
that have been so carefully established by the Africa
rice center, and to ensure that any NERICA seeds
acquired by a farmer are the real thing.
8 Conclusion
NERICA is now popular among farmers and can have
a strong impact on livelihoods. Detailed characteri-
zation of NERICA varieties is therefore required to
support farmers’ decision-making. Making seeds avai-
lable to farmers is the main target for the coming years.
While continuing to produce breeder and foundation
seed at the Africa rice center and in collaboration with
NARS, partners among NGOs, farmers’ organizations
and individual seed growers will be identified and
encouraged to produce certified seed.
Agronomic and post-harvest technology packages
should be developed or released in order to enhance
performance and quality. Prerequisites for enabling
technologies such as NERICA to raise food security in
the region include farmers having improved access to
seed and information, as well as favorable policies
supporting the development of the agricultural sector.
Finally, lowland NERICAs have shown high-yielding
ability and efforts are being made to extend them
more to farmers.