Upland NERICA
Number of most popular upland NERICA varieties grown by farmers	18 NERICA varieties, including: NERICA 1- 7 (the original set of popular NERICAs, named and released on a large scale in Côte d’Ivoire in 1999/2000) Plus 11 new NERICAs named by the Africa Rice Center (WARDA) and the African Rice Initiative (ARI) in 2005 All the 18 upland NERICAs have been genetically characterized by the Africa Rice Center (WARDA)
Number of upland NERICA lines sent to national programs in sub-Saharan Africa for testing	More than 100 upland NERICA lines have been sent for testing in various countries of sub-Saharan Africa
Number of African countries where upland NERICAs are being tested	More than 30 countries in sub-Saharan Africa
Number of African countries where upland NERICAs have been adopted/released	Apart from the traditional 17 West & Central African member countries, the coverage and testing of NERICAs now extend to: 5 countries in Eastern Africa (Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya and Madagascar) 4 countries in Central Africa (Gabon, Congo Brazzaville, Congo DRC and Burundi) and Mozambique in Southern Africa. Some countries are growing up to 9 different NERICA varieties (Finding by the African Rice Initiative).
Area under upland NERICA in sub-Saharan Africa	About 200,000 ha across sub-Saharan Africa, including more than 75,000 ha in Guinea; about 60,000 ha in Nigeria; more than 20,000 ha each in Cote d’Ivoire and Uganda. (Finding by the African Rice Initiative)
NERICA adoption rate	In Guinea, the area under NERICA increased by 49% between 2002 and 2003 and impact studies show that this would have tripled had all the rice farmers been exposed to the NERICAs and had access to seeds. (Impact study by WARDA and Guinea NARS).
NERICA impact on livelihood in Benin	Child Schooling in Farmers’ Families which have adopted NERICA (Impact study by WARDA & Benin NARS) 3% increase in school enrollment rate; 3% increase in school retention rate; About 5,000 CFA (approx. USD8) increase per child in school expenditure
NERICA impact on livelihood in Benin	Child Health in Farmers’ Families which have adopted NERICA (Impact study by WARDA & Benin NARS) • 2% reduction in frequency of child sickness in farming households; • 5% increase in hospital attendance frequency when sick; • About 7,000 CFA (approx USD12) increase in health expenses per sick child.
NERICA impact in Uganda	Study by Kijima et al. (2006) showed that on average, a shift from maize to NERICA with proper crop rotation increase income by between US$273 and US$481 per ha. Moreover, introduction of NERICA tends to improve income distribution. The study indicated that NERICA has a great potential to not only decrease poverty to a significant extent but also improve income distribution.
NERICA’s projected impact on rice import bill in sub-Saharan Africa	Rice imports are draining about US$ 2 billion from precious foreign exchange earnings in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Projections by Africa Rice Center (WARDA) show that a 20% increase in NERICA planting in SSA countries could result in a 5% reduction in the rice import bill.
Lowland NERICA
New generation of NERICAs developed for lowland / irrigated ecologies
Number of lowland NERICA varieties	60 NERICAs for lowlands, named and characterized by the Africa Rice Center (WARDA) in 2005
Characteristics	Yield up to 7 tonnes per ha and good resistance to major lowland stresses
Number of countries where lowland NERICAs are being tested	In about 20 African countries across West, Central and East Africa for different water regimes, in different integrated crop management scenarios.
Number of countries where lowland NERICAs have been released	6 countries (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gambia, Mali, Sierra Leone, Togo)
Potential	In West Africa alone, if out of a total estimated 5.3 million hectares, only 2 million hectares of lowlands is grown to rice, producing an average yield of only 3 tonnes per hectare the region could easily stop its costly rice imports.
Major Constraints and Priorities
Lack of seed (A study by Spencer et al. in two states of Nigeria in 2006 showed 30%-42% of farmers in the study area adopted NERICA. It also showed that farmers who were not able to get NERICA seeds abandoned NERICA.) Relative high cost of complementary inputs (fertilizers, pesticides, water) compared to a low rice price Urgent need for the development of a strong market and a prominent position for rice on national policy agendas in sub-Saharan Africa Urgent need for a comprehensive rice sector development program Further research on NERICAs to increase their resistance to environmental stresses, particularly drought, as well as diseases and pests, while increasing their yield potential and nutrient and water use efficiency, using advanced scientific tools. Further exploration of the rich gene pool of the African rice species
Awards to Africa Rice Center (WARDA) for NERICA (2000 -2006)
2006: United Nations Award for South-South Triangular Partnership for the NERICA initiative 2006: Burkina Faso Presidential Award to Dr Moussa Sié and his team members for lowland NERICA 2006: Japan’s International Koshihikari Prize to Dr Moussa Sié for lowland NERICA 2004: World Food Prize to Dr Monty Jones for NERICA breakthrough 2000: CGIAR King Baudouin Award