ABSTRACT
With West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA) under close scrutiny, it was crucial that the right people be picked for the tasks at hand. Regular WARDA employees operate tractors and other machinery on the WARDA farm, but hundreds of villagers work as casual labor, the number varying according to the season and the work at hand. So far, WARDA says it has not had problems with either numbers or the work ethic of field workers. WARDA would not rely on improving crops simply through traditional plant breeding methods, but would adopt a much more comprehensive approach, taking into account environmental factors such as climate, soil, and water. In practice, traditional land tenure customs are still widely observed, so resolving conflicts like that over a transfer of land to WARDA often requires long negotiation.
