ABSTRACT
West Africa Rice Development Association's (WARDA's) mission, as its name suggests, is to promote agriculture in the region by helping farmers increase the production of rice. In 1986, a showdown that included some unusually candid give and take between rich and poor countries produced a compromise that granted WARDA a new, though conditional, lease on life. The name Wide Crossing was given the WARDA rice breeding program aimed at developing a rice plant capable of both delivering high yields and doing well in the unforgiving West African growing conditions. WARDA can be seen as an edifying example of an institution with a troubled past and uncertain future that by pluck and luck, good ideas and hard work made a comeback against the odds. WARDA's Wide Crossing project has been renamed NERICA (NEw RIce for AfriCA) to reflect a broad initiative aimed at promoting wide adoption of the improved rice varieties in West Africa and beyond.
