ABSTRACT
Irrigated rice would not be ignored, but the West Africa Rice Development Association's (WARDA's) main effort and major resources would be aimed at helping the greater number who farm in the "upland\inland valley continuum." The term biotechnology connotes a broad range of scientific techniques and tools, including tissue culture procedures used in the WARDA's Wide Crossing program. WARDA's Wide Crossing program made progress, says Monty Patrick Jones, because they had come across certain glaberrimas with unusual physical characteristics. A profile of the ideal plant that WARDA wanted was easy to construct. It would combine aspects of the sativa structure that make high yields possible with glaberrima's amenability to West African conditions. With both rainfed and irrigated rice, WARDA research has a dual objective: increasing the yields of rice plants, but doing so in ways that are sustainable, that is, do not degrade the natural resource base for the future.
