Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Millions of Nigeria’s farmers to benefit from new lowland rice varieties

Three new lowland rice varieties were officially released in Nigeria on 11 December 2013 to help improve rice productivity and increase the incomes of millions of rice farmers across West Africa and beyond.

The varieties—UPIA1, UPIA2, and UPIA3—are early maturing and high yielding. They also posses  tolerance to iron toxicity and resistance to African rice gall midge, among others. The long slender grains also meet the cooking preference of Nigerian consumers.

The varieties are the products  of the breeding efforts of IRRI, the University of Port Harcourt, and AfricaRice. The new varieties were released in Nigeria by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, through its partnership with the University of Port Harcourt.


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3 comments:

  1. These new varieties in Nigeria were IRRI developed rice varieties;
    1. UPIA 1 IR68
    2. UPIA 2 IR 69513-21-SRN 2-UBN 1-B-7-2
    3. UPIA 3 IR 74371-54-1-1

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  2. Thank you so much, Dr. Glenn Gregorio. This is good news indeed!

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  3. Dear Glenn. I am interested in the varieties—UPIA1, UPIA2, and UPIA3. I'm Yusuf Yahaya from Kano State in Nigeria. This is great news!

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