AfricaRice and AATF Sign Five-Year Partnership to Accelerate Rice Self-Sufficiency and Improve Farmer Livelihoods Across Africa

The Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) and the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly advance rice productivity, strengthen food and nutrition security, and reduce poverty across Africa. The agreement brings together two of the continent's leading agricultural institutions — AfricaRice's world-class rice research and breeding expertise, and AATF's proven track record in scaling agricultural technologies to smallholder farmers across 32 African countries.

Under the partnership, both organizations will collaborate to improve rice value chains, expand farmers' access to improved rice varieties — including high-yielding hybrids — and promote sustainable, productivity-enhancing practices from seed to market. Key areas of joint action include quality seed production and distribution, good agricultural practices, mechanization, decision-support tools for efficient input use, and rice processing technologies.

Dr. Baboucarr Manneh, Director General of AfricaRice, highlighted the partnership's potential to close the gap between science and impact: "Through this partnership, we will work together with AATF to develop and promote mechanized tools and agricultural equipment to reduce drudgery in rice production, improve processing efficiency, and enhance the quality of locally produced rice."

"We stand at a crossroads in Africa's food production journey, where population growth, climate change, and declining agricultural productivity continue to threaten food and nutrition security. By investing in agricultural innovations, we have a unique opportunity to transform African agriculture into a powerful driver of economic growth," said Dr. Canisius Kanangire, Executive Director of AATF.

The MoU positions AfricaRice's research pipeline and AATF's public-private partnership model as complementary forces in Africa's push toward rice self-sufficiency — a goal that has gained significant political and financial momentum following the USD 1.54 billion in investment pledges made at the recent West Africa Rice Investment Roundtable in Accra.

About AATF: The African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) is an international not-for-profit organization established in 2003 to empower farmers across Africa with access to agri-food innovations and technologies that enhance productivity, strengthen food and nutrition security, and improve livelihoods. AATF has reached over 98 million farmers across 32 countries. www.aatf-africa.org

About AfricaRice: The Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) is a pan-African CGIAR Center of Excellence for rice research, development, and capacity building serving 28 African member countries. Headquartered in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, AfricaRice works to reduce poverty, ensure food and nutrition security, and improve livelihoods across the rice value chain. www.africarice.org