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A. The problem: abiotic stresses in rice and resulting factors

 

In Asia, drought and submergence plague tens of millions of rainfed rice lands  each year. In SSA, 80% of the total rice area is rainfed and faces the same  constraints as rainfed rice in Asia. Average rice yields are only 1.5 t/ha and  total rice production in SSA reached only 12.7 million tons from a harvested area  of about 8.5 million hectares in 2004 (Balasubramanian et al 2007). NERICA rice  varieties have recently given new hope for increasing yields in Africa but early  success has been for upland rice, which covers only about one-third of the total  rice area. Expansion of upland rice area, unfortunately, presents much larger  environmental and sustainability challenges than rainfed lowland rice.

 

The overwhelming importance of rice to poor Asians—both rural and urban—is well  documented. However, in Africa, rice is the fastest growing food and cash crop,  in terms of both production and consumer demand, with 40–45% of the rice consumed  being imported. Rice imports in 2008 and 2009 into SSA were about 10 million  tons. This is more than a third of internationally traded rice at a cost of about  $4 billion, a huge burden to many African countries with limited resources.  Relying on the world market to supply rice is becoming a very risky, expensive,  and unsustainable strategy. Rice prices have increased sharply over the last  three years and global stocks are declining. The 2008 high rice prices caused  riots in major African capitals. To avoid severe food insecurity, civil  instability, and an economic downturn, there is an urgent need to increase rice  production, processing, and marketing in SSA. This is especially the case in West  Africa, where rice is the staple food. There is an abundance of agro-climatically  suitable wetlands and water resources that can support an expansion in area in  SSA. Rice has a major advantage over other crops, which is of particular  relevance for agricultural development in SSA. Unlike maize and cassava that  quickly deplete poor soils when grown with little or no fertilizer by subsistence  farmers, a continuously flooded lowland rice system is among the most sustainable  and productive cropping systems in the world, even with no fertilizer input.  Nitrogen-fixing bacteria and algae flourish under flooded conditions and changes  in soil chemistry free phosphorus for uptake by rice plants. Even when lowland  rice is grown without fertilizer, it typically yields two or three times more  than upland crops grown on the same soil. However, these crops will face the  threat of drought, adverse soils, and uncontrolled flooding and submergence.

 

Crop loss to drought and floods has a human dimension that is not captured by  simple monetary losses. As farmers liquidate capital such as livestock, farm  implements, and even land simply to survive, they seriously limit their future  options for years to come. And, as happens all too frequently, they are forced to  take children out of school or are unable to adequately nourish pregnant women  and young children. As a result, members of the next generation are condemned to  poverty even as their lives are just beginning. Other family members migrate on a  seasonal or long-term basis, leaving the elderly and women behind to manage their  farms (Paris et al 2005). Poor women, particularly members from poor farming  households, contribute more labor inputs than men in areas that suffer from  abiotic stresses such as drought, submergence, and sodic soils (Paris et al  2008b). These poorest of the poor will stay that way unless the farm families  among them can obtain higher income through higher and more stable rice yields in  the rainfed environments where rice productivity is chronically constrained by  drought, flooding, poor soils, and temperature extremes.

 

In addition to limitations in access to technology and information, marketing  infrastructure and seed production institutions are poorly developed. Farmers in  rainfed areas often have no access to good-quality seed of released varieties.  These farmers, both men and women, also lack knowledge and training to produce  good-quality seed and they have to use poor-quality seed produced on their own  land in the previous season.

 

 

 

B. Mission and Vision

 

The mission is to reduce poverty and hunger and increase food and income security  of resource-poor farm families and rice consumers in South Asia and sub-Saharan  Africa through the development and dissemination of high-yielding rice varieties  tolerant of abiotic stresses.

 

The vision—to reduce poverty and to stabilize rice production in drought- and  flood-plagued rainfed ecosystems through the use of modern technology—is at the  heart of IRRI and AfricaRice’s missions. Higher and more reliable rice  productivity will directly increase the quantity of food available to poor  households both through increased yields during stress years and by farmers being  more willing to invest in inputs as the fear of total crop loss diminishes. This  will also raise the income of poor landless households as family members are  employed as hired labor in rice production. Increased production will benefit the  poor households that buy rice by keeping its price low. In addition, higher rice  productivity will promote diversification into income-generating activities as  family food needs can be met from using less land and labor. The cumulative  effect of these factors can provide a strong foundation for reducing poverty.  STRASA Phase 2 targets the 20 million poor farmers in SA and SSA who have  received limited benefits from major developments in rice technologies.