NERICA (New Rice for Africa)
NERICA (nuevos arroces para África)
- Date
- 1994 (variedades desde 1996) · confidence high
- Place
- Bouaké, Vallée du Bandama, Ivory Coast
- Credited to
- Monty Jones and the WARDA team (West Africa Rice Development Association)
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
By crossing African rice (Oryza glaberrima) with Asian rice (O. sativa) using embryo rescue, WARDA obtained lines that combine the drought and weed tolerance of the former with the yield of the latter. They were released from 1996.
Agronomic success is debated (variable yields, lack of seed and inputs); the first viable cross was achieved around 1992-94 and varieties spread from 1996.
What it led to
- adoption in more than a dozen African countries
- the 2004 World Food Prize for Monty Jones (with Yuan Longping)
- greater upland rice production