African rice experts adopt new strategy for greater impact

AS part of a global programme on rice science that has laid out concrete and quantifiable key impacts to benefit the poor, the hungry, and the environment in the next 25 years, rice experts in Africa have adopted a more interdisciplinary and product-oriented approach in order to deliver greater development impacts. The innovative programme known as the Global Rice Science Partnership (GRiSP) aims to mobilise the very best of the world's rice science and involves the widest range of stakeholders possible in the technology generation and dissemination process to address, among others, Africa's major rice development challenges.'We acknowledge the urgency to conduct research activities differently ' to do more and to do better, given the increasing poverty throughout the world,' stated AfricaRice Director General, Dr. Papa Abdoulaye Seck.'GRiSP proposes a new global approach to research and we are part of this program.'Laying emphasis on the need for pooling intelligence to better exploit the comparative advantages of all the partners to address more efficiently the constraints to rice production, Seck listed 10 conditions that are essential for GRiSP to become a successful programme and ensure a high degree of satisfaction among rice farmers and consumers throughout the world. The conditions include the need to respect the diversity of partnerships, regional differences and institutional identities in the GRiSP, while rejecting 'hegemonic thinking.
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