to 13 percent, potentially pushing the combined yields in excess of six tons per hectare. Kouko et al. (2006), reported in Somado, Guei and Keya (2008), find similar results from field tests in Kenya.

The scope of the interspecific breeding program has grown substantially since 2000. Of particular interest is the creation of a set of NERICA lines suitable for irrigated areas and rainfed low-lands. While the upland NERICAs are based on the upland strain of Asian rice ( _japonica_ ), the so-called NERICA-Ls are based on the lowland strain ( _indica_ ). The breeding efforts date from 2000, and research has focused on 60 progenies. By 2006, eight NERICA-Ls had been released for testing in farmers’ fields in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Kenya, Mali, Niger Togo, and Sierra Leone (Somado, Guei and Keya, 2008). The lowland NERICA varieties are expected to make a bigger impact than the upland NERICA with paddy rice yield potential of 6-7 tons per hectare. The results from a study conducted in 2004 wet season in 8 countries on 19 sites gave lowland NERICA yield ranging from 5-7 tons per hectare. NERICA L-9 and NERICA L-33 obtained the higher yield between the 37 selected varieties with 7.2 tons per hectare and 7.1 tons per hectare respectively (Sie et al., 2008).

As discussed, in many places, upland rice is a crop grown to meet food needs and little is marketed. Consequently, markets for inputs and outputs are not necessarily well established and the full benefits of the new lines may go unrealized. An immediate problem is the supply of rice seeds. Private seed companies sell to a limited market in Africa. Further, in some cases, import policies aimed at safeguarding agriculture can also create hurdles to adequate seed supplies. As a result, farmers acquire most seed from informal sellers or produce the seed themselves. In the case of NERICA varieties, farmers who have been trained properly can maintain the quality of their seed for extended periods, since NERICAs, like other rice varieties, is selffertilizing. To fill the gap, AfricaRice has promoted community-based seed production systems in Benin, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

Early evidence from the first round of NERICAs suggests obstacles to the diffusion and adoption of the new technology among farmers and, consequently, adoption rates in terms of proportions of farmers and area planted.<sup>17</sup> For example, Diagne et al. (2009) report adoption rates of 4 percent for Côte d’Ivoire in 2000, 20 percent for Guinea in 2001, 18 percent in Benin in 2004 and 40 percent in Gambia in 2006. In Nigeria, Spencer et al. (2006) estimated that up to 30 percent of farmers in the state of Ekiti, Nigeria cultivated NERICA varieties in 2005 and that 42 percent of farmers in PVS villages in Kaduna Nigeria grew NERICAs. Diagne suggests a range of social, economic and institutional hurdles. Markets played a role; both land availability and participation in land markets boosted adoption. Programs that increased farmers’ awareness about characteristics of particular NERICA varieties proved key as well.

> 17 By diffusion, we refer to the degree to which farmers have knowledge of  NERICA technology and access to seed. These are the preconditions for adoption – that is, the farmer’s choice to plant NERICA.

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