The Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice), formerly known as the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA), is a pan-African intergovernmental association and a CGIAR Research organization, currently headquartered in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. AfricaRice is an agricultural research center that was constituted in 1971 by 11 West African countries. Presently the Center counts 26 African member states. Since 1986, AfricaRice has been one of the 15 specialized research centers of CGIAR.The center runs regional research stations in Saint-Louis, Senegal, in Ibadan, Nigeria and country offices in Cotonou, Benin and in Antananarivo, Madagascar.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.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 two families of interspecific cultivars of African (Oryza glaberrima) and Asian (Oryza sativa) rice species, 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 becoming the first African to win this award..
Inland valleys (IVs) are vital socio-ecological systems in Sub-Saharan Africa and are crucial for agriculture and ecosystem services. However, they are susceptible to drought and flooding and require adaptation strategies informed by robust spatiotemporal analyses of hazards. This study (i) assesses the spatial and temporal distribution and severity of drought and wet conditions; (ii) identify key climatic and biophysical factors associated with these events; and (iii) determine the socio-economic and environmental factors associated with farmers adaptation responses in Benin. Biophysical, climate (1991-2021) and socio-economic data were collected in 68 IVs distributed in Benin's Guinean and Sudano-Guinean climate zones. Results showed that the years 2001, 2002, and 2016 were classified as extreme drought years across all IVs, while 2008, 2009, and 2019 experienced extreme wetness. Drought, occurring in 35 % of the total IVs, was more frequent in the Sudano-Guinean zone and mainly characterised by soil organic carbon, standardised precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI), and sand content. Wet, affecting 30 % of the total IVs, was more frequent in the Guinean zone and was linked to average annual rainfall, sand content, and SPEI. Farmers responded to drought hazards by adopting organic farming (58 %), implementing irrigation (47 %) and adjusting cropping seasons (85 %). For extreme wet and flood hazards, farmers responded with changes in the cultivation areas (76 %), agroforestry and use of straw and fallow (64 %), and adjustments in cropping seasons and areas (84 %). These adaptation strategies were influenced by market access, access to extension services, and infrastructures. The study underscores the need for enhancing monitoring and early warning systems that integrate climate, soil, and socio-economic factors to better detect and respond to drought and flood risks.
Declining soil health threatens smallholder agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa, undermining food security and the sustainability of agri-food systems. Although sustainable soil health management (SSHM) offers proven solutions, its adoption remains limited due to systemic barriers constraining farmers’ ability to access, combine, and benefit from essential resources. While recent scholarship calls for holistic, systems-based incentives, empirical research that designs such incentive systems remains scarce. This study addresses this gap by designing a farmer-centric SSHM incentive system tailored to the institutional realities of smallholders. Grounded in farmers’ expressed preferences, the study translates largely conceptual recommendations into concrete system designs. Drawing on an exploratory study, five dimensions of smallholder market systems were translated as attributes of an incentive system. A rating-based conjoint experiment with 744 maize and soybean farmers in northern Ghana assessed preferences across these attributes. The findings reveal four insights: 1)Farmers prefer bundled arrangements, such as integrating sustainability support with input credit and linking them to buyer contracts. 2)They follow a clear preference hierarchy, prioritizing incentives that reduce adoption barriers before those that stimulate motivation or enhance skills. 3)Two distinct farmer segments emerge, one oriented toward market access and the other toward production support, reflecting different adoption priority logics. 4)Farmers support system-based incentives that are anchored in private sector-led coordination. These findings point to clear policy directions. Governments should create enabling conditions for bundled service creation and delivery, agribusinesses and financial institutions should expand input-output-linked services to incorporate sustainability packages, and multi-stakeholder solutions should be organized around private coordination under regulatory oversight.
Food security is a critical foundation for human development, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa where rapid population growth demands increased food production. In rice breeding programs, early-stage diversity assessment is essential for guiding selection and advancement of genetic resources, yet it is often underutilized during observational yield trials (OYT). This study evaluated phenotypic diversity among early-generation rice genotypes to support breeding decisions. A total of 198 test lines and three check varieties were assessed under field conditions using an augmented design at Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute Dakawa Centre. Significant genotypic differences were observed for days to 50% flowering (X50) and empty grains per panicle (EGP) at the 1% level, and for panicle length (PL) and grain yield per row (GYR) at the 5% level. Cluster analysis grouped genotypes into four clusters, with Cluster 4 showing superior performance across key traits. Greater inter-cluster than intra-cluster distances indicated substantial diversity. These findings highlight the importance of phenotypic diversity analysis at OYT, though integration of molecular tools such as SNP markers is recommended to improve selection efficiency.
Soil health is the capacity to support the production of food, feed, and fiber while delivering other essential ecosystem services. We suggest key soil health indicators and examine the three-way interactions between mineral fertilizer, crop productivity, and soil health. Given the long history of soil nutrient depletion in Sub-Saharan Africa, we conclude that mineral fertilizer use, as a core component of integrated soil fertility management, must increase and be co-applied with organic inputs to increase productivity and fertilizer use efficiency and restore and sustain soil health.
The use of digital tools in farm management is increasing in developing countries, yet their effects on production, technology, and managerial performance remain underexplored. This study evaluates the impacts of RiceAdvice, a decision-support mobile app that provides personalized recommendations to rice farmers. Using a four-period experimental panel dataset from northern Nigeria, we estimate impacts on technology, technical efficiency, and frontier yields across a control group, a group receiving recommendations only, and a group receiving recommendations plus fertilizer. Results from panel stochastic production frontier models and analysis of covariance estimations show that RiceAdvice improves productivity by enhancing both access to improved practices and managerial performance. Gains are especially large and consistently significant when advisory services are bundled with fertilizer, while effects of the recommendation-only intervention are more fragile under attrition, as revealed by Lee bounds analysis. Productivity gains peaked in the second year before tapering off, highlighting potential sustainability challenges without continued support. Overall, the findings suggest that sustained access to RiceAdvice, especially when complemented with fertilizer, can strengthen managerial performance and raise productivity among smallholder rice farmers.
