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The Northern Regional Coordinating Council (NRCC) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Jiangxi Academy of Agricultural Science (JXAAS CHINA), a Chinese research institution, to boost food production in the country. The agreement is focused on developing improved rice seed varieties to enhance production.It involves a hybrid research demonstration between Crop Gene Bank of Jiangxi province and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (CSIR-SARI).
Under the agreement, the Jiangxi Academy would provide SARI with technical support to develop improved and high-yielding rice varieties that are tolerant of harsh weather conditions.
Additionally, five sets of hybrid rice varieties from the Chinese research institution - hukenyou taixiang, luohongyou 1564, quanguangyou 822, quanyou simiao, and wanfengyousizhan, would be evaluated and possibly integrated in the region.
The Northern Regional Minister, Shani Alhassan Shaibu, signed on behalf of the region while the Vice-President of the Jiangxi Academy of Agricultural Science, Prof. Liu Guangrong, signed on behalf of the research institution.
Alhaji Shaibu commended the academy for initiating the collaboration and said it would help to boost rice production in the region and mitigate the struggles farmers go through to access quality rice varieties.
He said that rice was a major food stable for every household in the region and the country at large, for which reason more efforts needed to be made to boost its production to meet the growing demand.
The minister said the region had received a number of agricultural equipment from the Chinese government which had contributed to the growth of the agricultural sector in the area over the years.
"A previous agreement signed with the academy has increased the production of rice within a short period which has benefited most farmers and households in our region," he added.
Prof. Guangrong also said that the intervention would make a major impact in the region because of its vast arable land and the huge agriculture potential. "We want to expand our cooperation from rice production to other crops to increase food production and reposition the agricultural sector," he said.
For his part, the acting Head of Rice Improvement Programme at SARI, Alex Yeboah, said through previous collaborations with the institution, five rice varieties were evaluated and introduced for field performance.
He added that CSIR-Malimali and CSIR-Savanna were the only two varieties released and commercialised for production.
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