| Africa Rice Center | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | AfricaRice |
| Formation | 1971 |
| Type | Non-profit research and training center |
| Purpose/focus | Research |
| Headquarters | Bouaké, Vallée du Bandama Region |
| Location | Cote d'Ivoire |
| Region served | Africa |
| Official languages | English / French |
| Director General | Dr. Papa Abdoulaye Seck |
| Main organ | Board of Trustees |
| Parent organization | Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research |
| Staff | 500 |
| Website | www.africarice.org |
The Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice), formerly known as the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA), is an African organization located in Cotonou, Benin.[1] AfricaRice is an agricultural research center that was constituted in 1971 by 11 West African countries. Presently the center counts 24 African member states.[2] AfricaRice is since 1986 one of the 15 specialized research centers – the "Future Harvest Centers" – of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
Its normal headquarters are in Bouaké, Côte d'Ivoire, but because of the political situation in that country, it is currently[update] operating from the premises of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture's station in Cotonou.[2] The center runs regional research stations in Saint-Louis, Senegal, in Ibadan, Nigeria and in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.
AfricaRice aims to contribute to poverty alleviation and food security in Africa through research for development. The center has therefore close links to agricultural research organizations in the African member states, to agricultural universities and research institutes in Europe, Japan and the United States, and to the development sector, which include Non Governmental Organizations, farmers organizations and donors. AfricaRice, being part of the CGIAR system, shares resources with several of the other CGIAR organizations, including the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Baños, Philippines, and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Ibadan, Nigeria. In the course of reforms at the CGIAR, AfricaRice developed together with IRRI and International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) the Global Rice Science Partnership (GRiSP), which sets a global strategic research agenda for rice.[3]
One of the major tasks of AfricaRice is the development and introduction of new rice seed varieties that are suitable for African conditions. NERICA, which stands for "New Rice for Africa", is an interspecific cultivar of African (Oryza glaberrima) and Asian (Oryza sativa) rice varieties, that was developed to improve the yields of African farmers. For his work on NERICA, Dr. Monty Jones from Sierra-Leone was awarded the World Food Prize in 2004[4] becoming the first African national to win this award.