Towards greater genetic gains in rice based agri-food systems in South Asia and Africa

On a mission to make Asia and sub-Saharan Africa more food secure, IRRI’s Stress-Tolerant Rice for Africa and South Asia (STRASA) Project, chiefly supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), was launched in 2008. In its decade of implementation, STRASA has brought forth a new era of scientific excellence in rice science, as evidenced by the following impacts: extensive network of research and development and expertise generated from stress-tolerant rice varieties’ delivery and extension; strengthened supply chain networks; shared platforms for varietal knowledge enhancement, production and training; and widespread diffusion reaching farmers and benefiting consumers worldwide.