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Forging new strategic alliances
Thanks to its traditional strong partnership links with the
national agricultural research systems (NARS), WARDA can at any
given time draw on a pool of more than 100 scientists through
the networks and consortia convened by it.
This collaboration with the NARS has been further extended by
the presence of the Eastern and Central Africa Rice Research
Network (ECARRN) and the expansion of the African Rice
Initiative (ARI) activities in eastern and central Africa.
WARDA is continuing to forge new strategic alliances with its
sister Centers, with international non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) and the private sector to step up the reach
and impact of its technologies, especially the NERICA varieties,
across sub-Saharan Africa
MoU with IRRI: Spurred by NERICA’s amazing popularity
among rice farmers in Africa, the International Rice Research
Institute (IRRI) is teaming up with WARDA to pursue work on this
exciting technology for Africa. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
was recently signed to formalize this collaboration. The
partnership will gain on one hand from WARDA’s rich experience
in sub-Saharan Africa and its historic relationship with NARS
and on the other from IRRI’s expertise in genomics and
biotechnology.
MoU with IITA-Tanzania: In response to the increasing
demand for its involvement in rice research and development in
Eastern Africa, WARDA has reactivated the ECARRN rice network of
ASARECA and established a Coordination Unit for the network in
Tanzania. To increase the resource use efficiency of the CGIAR
Centers based in one location, WARDA has signed an MoU with IITA-Tanzania
station to provide corporate service support to the ECARRN
Coordination Unit.
Agreement with JICA: The Japan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA) and WARDA have a long-standing partnership on rice
R&D. JICA has currently posted two rice experts to work with the
WARDA-coordinated African Rice Initiative (ARI). A Research
Collaboration Agreement was signed with JICA to formalize this
partnership.
MoU with Songhai Center: Songhai is an international NGO
in West Africa that provides an ideal extension platform for
agriculture. An MoU was recently signed with the Songhai Center,
which will help link up rice research to farmers and the rice
market.
Partnership with the African Agricultural Technology
Foundation (AATF) and Arcadia Biosciences Inc: A joint
project to improve rice varieties with traits for nitrogen use
efficiency (NUE) and salinity tolerance has been initiated and
an MoU is expected to be signed. |
