Event Announcement: AfricaRice to host ‘Rice Innovations Fair'
COTONOU, Benin, September 1, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Innovative R&D products, tools and approaches developed by the Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) and its partners to boost productivity in Africa's rice farming will be showcased at the first 'Rice Innovations Fair of Scalable Technologies', 1-2 September 2014, in Cotonou, Benin.
The technologies on display will include, among others, new climate-smart ARICA rice varieties; SMART-valleys, a low-cost participatory and sustainable approach to develop inland valleys in sub-Saharan Africa for rice-based systems; mechanical weeders; power tillers; an energy-efficient rice parboiler; and RiceAdvice, a decision-support app for providing farmers with field-specific management guidelines.
The main objectives of the 'Rice Innovations Fair' are to raise awareness about the latest innovations as well as to identify with development partners, donors and researchers promising scalable technologies and define dissemination pathways.
The first day of the event will focus on the presentation of a set of eleven technologies, followed by discussions to define dissemination pathways for each innovation.
The second day will include a visit to the Ouinhi district in Benin, to see inland valleys that have been developed using the Smart-valleys participatory approach. These achievements are the result of AfricaRice's partnership with the Benin extension agency called Cellule Bas-Fonds, under the Rural Engineering Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries.
The 2-days event is expected to be highly interactive in order to maximize knowledge exchange among participants and establish new contacts between researchers and representatives of the development sector.
Editor's Notes:
AfricaRice is one of the 15 international agricultural research Centers that are members of the CGIAR Consortium. It is also an intergovernmental association of African member countries.
The Center was created in 1971 by 11 African countries. Today its membership comprises 25 countries, covering West, Central, East and North African regions, namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Gabon, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo and Uganda.
AfricaRice temporary headquarters is based in Cotonou, Benin; research staff are also based in Senegal, Nigeria, Tanzania, Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
For more information visit: www.AfricaRice.org