Annual Report 2012 - African Agricultural Technology Foundation
Annual Report 2012 - African Agricultural Technology Foundation
Annual Report 2012 - African Agricultural Technology Foundation
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42 AATF <strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
low yield has been attributed to several abiotic factors. Drought and<br />
nitrogen deficiency have been cited as leading constraints to upland rice<br />
production. About 80 percent of <strong>African</strong> rice farms traditionally depend<br />
on rainfall as farmers are resource constrained, and cannot afford to install<br />
irrigation systems or buy much fertiliser. High salinity is increasingly<br />
becoming a major problem in many rice growing areas of Africa. The<br />
NEWEST Rice Project offers a window of opportunity to addressing these<br />
constraints. The initiative strives to genetically transform some varieties<br />
of NERICA using plant transformation technologies to improve their<br />
productivity in nitrogen-deficient soils, drought prone regions and in soils<br />
with high salinity. The goal is to provide smallholder rice farmers with<br />
higher yielding varieties that are well adapted to marginal agricultural<br />
production conditions that characterise many areas in Africa.<br />
The project partners include AATF, who is coordinating the Project,<br />
Arcadia Biosciences is donating the trait technologies, producing transgenic<br />
plants and providing technical support and Public Intellectual Property<br />
Resource for Agriculture (PIPRA) is donating the enabling technologies<br />
for plant transformation; while NARO, CRI and CIAT are involved in<br />
field testing for trait gain.<br />
<strong>Technology</strong> access and agreements<br />
During the year under review, the Project was granted a technology<br />
license agreement for use of Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation<br />
technology known as ‘PureIntro’ by Japan Tobacco in March <strong>2012</strong>. This was<br />
after a series of negotiations<br />
between Japan Tobacco and<br />
AATF. This technology will<br />
improve the efficiency in<br />
generating transgenic lines<br />
and thus save time in product<br />
development. PureIntro® is<br />
an agrobacterium-mediated<br />
plant transformation<br />
technology that is recognised<br />
worldwide as the standard<br />
transformation system.<br />
The technology reduces<br />
development costs and<br />
The Ghana NEWEST Rice Project CFT site planted with maize time. PureIntro® has been<br />
to deplete nitrogen in readiness for trials in 2013<br />
licensed by Japan Tobacco<br />
Deploying agricultural technologies for farmers
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