With rising international rice prices threatening to double their US$2 billion annual rice import bill, the rice-consuming nations of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have finally received some good news. Three of the world's leading international agricultural research institutes recently announced plans to combine their efforts in Africa to boost African rice production and save the continent millions of dollars in foreign exchange it now spends on rice imports.

The three centers are the Africa Rice Center (WARDA) in Benin, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT by its Spanish acronym) in Colombia and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines.

With only 13% of the world's population, Africa accounts for 32% of world rice imports, which makes it a big player in the international rice trade. In 2006, SSA imported more than 9 million tons of rice worth an estimated US$2 billion. With world rice reserves at their lowest since 1983-84, international rice prices are expected to double in the next couple of years. This is especially alarming for SSA nations, which need to import about 40% of their rice to satisfy local demand.

In a joint declaration announcing a major programmatic alignment, the three centers - all of which are supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) - affirmed their commitment to bring the best of science and their experience in Asia, Latin America and Africa to address the major challenges facing Africa's rice sector.

"To me this is the best way to reach a consensus on rice research in Africa," said Dr. Papa Abdoulaye Seck, director general of WARDA. "By harmonizing our activities we can cover the whole continent, have critical mass and address most of the problems facing rice. At the end of the day we can have a very high impact."

Among their initial proposals is to establish the Sub-Saharan Africa Rice Consortium (SARC), which will consolidate the two existing regional rice networks: the West and Central Africa Rice Research and Development Network and the Eastern and Central Africa Rice Research Network. The new combined entity will also cover the parts of SSA not included in the existing networks.

The three Centers have also agreed that SARC will provide a platform for collective action by the three CGIAR Centers and collaboration with national agricultural research and extension systems (NARES). The consortium will provide a united front for promoting rice and rice research in SSA and a common conduit for channeling technology and information from international research to NARES and farmers in the region.

Outlining SARC's objectives, representatives of WARDA, CIAT and IRRI said they wanted to maximize coordination among the three Centers and their interaction with NARES. They also hoped to provide farmers with better access to improved seeds and technologies and to develop a critical mass of trained scientists, thereby enhancing Africa's capacity in rice research.