Green Super Rice Phase 2 highlights achievements in Africa

Green Super Rice (GSR) Phase 2 project highlighted its achievements for Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) during a workshop in Uganda. One of these was the release of Okile (GSR I0057=ZGY1) variety in Uganda. GSR is a mix of more than 250 different rice varieties developed to perform well in the toughest conditions where the poorest farmers grow rice. The long-term objective of the project is to boost rice productivity by 20% to benefit some 20 million poor rice farmers in the target countries.

During the workshop participants from Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Mozambique presented the progress made in their respective countries. Achievements in GSR breeding in IRRI Hubs in Burundi, Tanzania, and countries in West Africa were also presented. Other GSR varieties released in ESA are the weed-tolerant Hua 565, Simiao, and Buryohe.

Resource poor farmers in Africa and Asia can benefit from the project because this technology requires less input without sacrificing yield, said Dr. Zhikang Li, project director and chief scientist of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

Li said that next phase of the project will focus on seed upscaling and the release of new GSR varieties. To meet that goal, the project workshop developed the seed road map and seed upscale strategy for each country in ESA.

Careful planning for seed upscale in countries where the GSR varieties were released will be the priority as well as identifying local seed producers and key stakeholders to mobilize the resources for proper seed upscale of promising GSR released varieties, according to Dr. Jauhar Ali, IRRI-GSR project leader and coordinator for Asia and ESA, and Dr. Jimmy Lamo, project coordinator in Uganda.

 “The GSR project has set up a very good opportunity for a vital role of collaboration,” Li added.

Ambrose Agona, director general of the  National Agricultural Research Organisation, agreed. “Partnership is a very important element for any project to succeed,” he emphasized. He challenged the participants to come up with a strategy for awareness and promotion such varieties so that people, especially the farmers can really benefit from the project. He also expressed his gratitude to the project for choosing Uganda as one of its target countries.

Green Super Rice project aims to reduce poverty and hunger and increase food and income security of resource-poor farmers in Africa and Asia through the development and dissemination of  GSR varieties that give high and stable yield without requiring heavy inputs. The African component of the project is coordinated by Africa Rice Center and in partnership with IRRI, national programs of target countries, non-governmental organizations, farmers’ associations and the private sector.

The workshop was held at Hotel Africana in Kampala, Uganda on 3-5 November.

Learn more about IRRI (www.irri.org) or follow us on the social media and networks (all links down the right column).

Green Super Rice Project training course held in Bangladesh

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) jointly organized a crop management training course on Green Super Rice (GSR) for researchers and extension agents in Gazipur, Bangladesh on 6-7 September 2015. It was attended by 32 participants from BRRI, BRAC, and the Department of Agricultural Extension. The primary objective of this activity was to enhance the skills of extension agents on crop management of newly identified GSR cultivars for varietal release. In addition, emphasis was laid on training these extension agents so they could teach and assist the farmers further in the target regions in Bangladesh.

Dr. Jiban Krishna Biswas, BRRI director general, welcomed the participants and addressed them on the importance of such a training activity, especially when two GSR varieties—BRRIdhan69 and BINAdhan17GSR—have been released in Bangladesh. He also mentioned the partnership of BRRI and IRRI and the importance of extending their program not only in their research centers, but also to other organizations such as BRAC. Dr. Md. Islam Uddin Mollah, chief scientific officer and BRRI training head, also welcomed all the participants in behalf of BRRI.

Dr. Jauhar Ali, IRRI scientist, gave an overview of the GSR status in Asia and stressed the way forward of upscaling the seeds with a package of practices for newly released varieties. Dr. Helal Uddin Ahmed, GSR project coordinator at BRRI, gave the update on the status of the project and the performance of GSR cultivars in Bangladesh. The topics covered on the first training day were Integrated Pest Management, with Dr. Abdul Latif and Dr. Nur Ahmed as resource persons from BRRI, and a lecture on the Rice Crop Manager given by Dr. Abhijit Saha, also from BRRI. Quality seed production and statistical tools were discussed on the following day by Dr. Md. Khalequzzaman of BRRI and Ms. Rose Imee Zhella Morantte of IRRI, respectively.

The participants expressed their keen interest on Green Super Rice and, at the end of the course, they were provided with materials to impart their newly acquired knowledge to a minimum of 100 farmers for each participant in the target region.


Learn more about IRRI (www.irri.org) or follow us on the social media and networks (all links down the right column).