The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), founded in 1960, is an autonomous, nonprofit agricultural research and training organization with offices in 14 nations, including the target countries. IRRI’s mission is to “reduce poverty and hunger, improve the health of rice farmers and consumers, and ensure environmental sustainability through collaborative research, partnerships, and strengthening of national agricultural research and extension systems.”

The Africa Rice Center (WARDA) is an intergovernmental rice research and development institution founded in 1971 with the mandate to conduct rice research and development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). WARDA’s main research activities include rice varieties development, natural resource management, and socioeconomic and rice policy research. Its development activities include the dissemination of research outcomes, capacity building, and institutional development (training of NARES—national agricultural research and extension systems, nongovernment organizations[NGO], and farmers’ groups in all aspects of rice production and processing, and provision of technical assistance and policy advice to NARES).

Partners from national agricultural research and extension systems (NARES) in 17 target countries are included  from Nigeria, Benin, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, The Gambia, and Mali in West Africa; Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Madagascar, and Rwanda in eastern and southern Africa; and India, Bangladesh, and Nepal in South Asia. These countries have major rainfed rice production areas that are affected by abiotic stresses (Fig. 1).

B. The Project

The poorest rice producers produce their crop under rainfed conditions, in which drought, submergence, and poor soils, i.e., salinity, reduce yields and harm their livelihoods. Recent advances in genetics and breeding have made the development of tolerant rice varieties feasible and their cultivation can substantially contribute to poverty alleviation in rainfed environments. For these areas, the project seeks to achieve, within the next ten years, a 50% increase in yield in farmers’ fields, using improved cultivars and enhanced management practices. In the short term the project will disseminate improved, stress-tolerant rice varieties to at least 400,000 households in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa; in the longer term it expects varieties tolerant of drought, submergence, and/or salinity to benefit at least 18 million households. In addition, the project aims to build capacity of researchers and seed producers; and promote the exchange of elite germplasm. The project will identify the regions where stress-tolerant varieties will have maximum impact and develop a network for seed production and adoption.