Rice, Rice and More Rice

Rice is an important part of the diet in Benin and we consumed our fair share during our stay. It is then no surprise then that there should be a research agency dedicated to improving yields and addressing local concerns for production in Africa.

Our first day in Benin was spent at Africa Rice and International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).

Variety Selection Research

Nutrient Research

They have many ongoing field and lab experiments like the ones shown above that look at different ways to manage fertilizer application and leaching, as well as cross breeding varieties to gain the best of both. We also toured the facility that catalogs and stores a sample of each of the rice varieties grown in Africa - over 20,000. Kiersten was overwhelmed by the vastness of the storage cooler holding all the varieties.

There's how many varieties in here?!

Au revoir,

Liz