By Fatou B. Cham
The National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) last week officially handed over rice breeder seeds to the National Seed Secretariat (NSS) at the Sapu Agricultural Research Station.
This important initiative, supported by the ROOTS project, in partnership with AfricaRice, represents a significant step towards boosting rice production in The Gambia.
AfricaRice supplied the nucleus seeds, which NARI used to produce one ton of breeder seeds locally at Sapu.
The seeds include four climate-smart, high-yielding rice varieties: ISRIZ 7, ISRIZ 10, ISRIZ 11, and Orylux 6.The NSS will now cultivate up to 10 hectares of foundation seed, which will later be distributed to certified seed producers across ROOTS intervention regions, ensuring farmers have access to high-quality rice seeds.
This is yet another initiative by the project to boost rice production and productivity in The Gambia.
