Test Planting Of Nitrogen Use Efficient Rice in Africa

DAVIS, Calif. and NAIROBI, KenyaArcadia Biosciences, Inc., and the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) announced the planting of the first field trial of Nitrogen Use Efficient (NUE) rice in Africa.

Rice is one of the most cultivated and important African food crops. Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) produce about 20 million metric tons of rice annually, yet the continent imports 9 million metric tons valued at $4 billion, according to the U.N.s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The majority of Africa's rice is produced and consumed by small-scale farmers who are constrained by environmental conditions like nutrient-deficient soil, drought and salinity.

Soil nitrogen deficiencies affect 90% of African land used to grow rice and other crops. Access to rice varieties that make better use of available nitrogen in soil and respond more effectively to small amounts of fertilizer can help reduce these agricultural difficulties, and can therefore lessen the continent's dependency on food imports. Additionally, Arcadia's NUE technology can decrease greenhouse gas emissions that result from the use of nitrogen fertilizer.

The NUE rice field trial is the result of more than five years of collaboration between Arcadia, the AATF and African researchers in more than three countries, working with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and other organizations under the Feed the Future initiative to help increase food security in Africa. The trials are being conducted in Ghana by the Crop Research Institute (CRI) and in Uganda by the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO). Access to enabling technologies was provided by the Public Intellectual Property Resource for Agriculture (PIPRA) and the International Center For Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Cali, Colombia, conducted preliminary field evaluations of promising varieties.

"This year's rice trials in Uganda and Ghana are a significant milestone for the project, advancing the prospect of improved rice varieties that will address the constraints of nitrogen deficiency, drought and salinity in rice production for smallholder farmers," said Denis Kyetere, Ph.D., executive director of AATF.

The African NUE field trials are part of the larger NEWEST Rice project that Arcadia is working on with the AATF and USAID. The project is a triple-gene stack rice variety that combines nitrogen use efficiency with water efficiency and saline tolerance which helps farmers maintain productivity under variable condition. Field trials for the NEWEST lines are expected to begin by the end of this year.

For more information on rice varieties visit the Slide Show: Working With Rice Ingredients, Forms and Varieties.