UNITED NATIONS
(Reuters) - New varieties of "miracle" rice developed
in West Africa could soon help African and Asian farmers grow
up to 50 percent more of the vital staple each year in far less
time.
The U.N. Development
Program (UNDP) says the New Rice for Africa -- dubbed NERICA --
combines the hardiness of African strains with the higher yields
of Asian breeds.
Three years
of testing in Guinea and Ivory Coast in West Africa have shown
that the new varieties, while not requiring fertilizer, are richer
in protein and better resist disease, drought and pests than currently
grown varieties, UNDP officials said on Wednesday.
NERICA also
matures 30 to 50 days earlier, and its broad blades grow out so
quickly that they shade weeds trying to grow nearby. That means
less labor-intensive weeding.
The West African
Rice Development Association, which developed the strain with
UNDP support, is conducting a workshop next week in the Ivory
Coast city of Bouake to identify national partners to help promote
the new seed.
Japan, the
Rockefeller Foundation, the U.S. Agency for International Development,
the African Development Bank and the UNDP are helping organize
the workshop, which 17 West African countries and three East African
nations are expected to attend along with Thailand, the Philippines
and Malaysia.
"This
is one of the rare cases where we are seeing the transfer of technology
from Africa to Asia," instead of the other way around, said
Peter Matlon, acting leader of the UNDP's Environmentally Sustainable
Development Group.
"We're
making a lot of seed available and moving it out," he said
in an interview.
While farmers
initially will focus on building up supplies of seed, it will
soon be a food crop, helping to battle poverty, UNDP said. It
is expected to lead to bigger crops at lower cost and bring down
prices for countries importing rice supplies.
NERICA is
the latest entry in a succession of "miracle rices"
that have been credited for helping to spur a Green Revolution
in the developing world.
The improved
strains have increased supplies enough to drive down prices at
least 25 percent worldwide since miracle rice first emerged in
the 1960s, Matlon said.
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