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By Silvia Aloisi

 
BOUAKE, Ivory Coast, April 25 (Reuters) - Scientists say a "miracle" rice they have developed in West Africa promises to start a Green Revolution on the world's poorest continent.

The New Rice for Africa, or Nerica for short, could help increase food security in a region plagued by recurring drought and famine and save poor countries millions of dollars on rice imports.

"According to our calculations, a 25 percent adoption of Nerica would lead to savings of $100 million (a year)," says Monty Jones, of the Ivory Coast-based West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA), and Nerica's "father."

Nerica aims to combine the robustness of the African strains with the higher productivity of the Asian breeds.

The result is a new variety which tests have shown can yield between 50 and 250 percent more than traditional African rices, better resists disease, drought and pests, is richer in protein and grows more quickly.

"A dream that rice scientists have had in West Africa for decades has now been realised -- crossing African rice species with Asian species and combining the best characteristics of the two," says Peter Matlon of the United Nations Development Programme which has part-financed the project.

FROM LUXURY FOOD TO EVERYDAY STAPLE

African farmers started cultivating rice some 4,000 years ago, but it is only in recent decades that it has become the staple for many in the region.

"Still 50 years ago, we would eat rice on special occasions, at parties. It was a luxury food," says WARDA's Nigerian director general, Kanayo Nwanze, adding that rice consumption in the region was growing faster than anywhere else.

About 20 million West Africans are now rice farmers, but their production falls well short of demand.

Over the past 30 years, rice imports to the region have increased more than 12-fold to an estimated 3.2 million tonnes a year for a cost of nearly $1 billion in 2000. Most comes from Asia.

Traditional African rice species grow fast, covering the ground with wide, droopy leaves that smother weeds.

They have adapted to the local soil and are dependent on rain for water, unlike Asian rice. They resist drought and pests well and don't need large amounts of fertilisers, which most African farmers cannot afford.

The problem is, their yield is very low, only about one tonne per hectare (2.471 acres). African grains also break more easily.

Asian rice, by contrast, has much higher productivity rates. But weeds are its main enemy and it is also vulnerable to many insects and diseases.

FARMERS IN THE DRIVING SEAT

For decades, scientists had tried to cross the two strains but most of their new genetically-tailored rice proved sterile.

Monty Jones, a 48-year old Sierra Leonean trained in Britain, started working on Nerica in 1991.

By 1996, thanks to a technique called "embryo-rescue" he had succeeded in creating the new variety and making it fertile.

Over the past three years, Nerica has been tested in Ivory Coast and particularly in Guinea, where it is now cultivated on 5,000 hectares (12,360 acres).

WARDA, which involves 17 West African countries, estimates that figure will rise to 330,000 hectares (815,400 acres) by 2002.

Farmers have been active in the $10-million project. Working closely with the scientists on a three-year scheme, they try several Nerica varieties and choose the one that best suits them.

"We've put farmers in the driving seat," says Jones.

Just a few miles (km) from the laboratories at the market in Bouake, however, none of the rice sellers appeared to have heard of Nerica. The scientists say another of its advantages is that it also tastes like African rice.

"If you've got some I can sell it," said Sekou Keita.

The scientists' aim now is to make the new seeds available to a large number of farmers in the hope that Nerica will cover up to 50 percent of the region's rain-fed rice fields within 10 years.

Although Nerica is targeted for African farming conditions, researchers are also trying to develop strains that could grow in Asia's mainly irrigated fields.

"We may actually see African technology going to Asia for a crop that is generally considered as an Asian crop," said Matlon of the UNDP.

23:33 04-24-01

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