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PERFORMANCE OF UPLAND NERICAS IN
UGANDA
Bigirwa
G., Tsuboi, T., Ochola, D., Alibu, S., Onaga, G., Lamo, J. and Asea G.
Namulonge Agricultural and Animal
Production Research Institute
P.O. Box 7084, Kampala, Uganda
Corresponding email:
g.bigirwa@naro-ug.org
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Dr Bigirwa
(Middle), Dr Joe DeVries (The Rockefeller Foundation) and other NARO
scientists during a tour of rice farmers' fields in Western Uganda. |
Research Abstract
The importance of rice in Uganda is on a steady increase with many farmers
taking up the growing of upland rice and the most popular variety is
NERICA 4 commonly known as NARIC 3. Farmers, consumers and processors look
out for different attributes in a variety and these play a significant
role in their uptake and utilization. Aromatic varieties are most
preferred and that is why some farmers stick to inferior varieties even
when the better yielding non aromatic varieties are availed. Farmers have
also expressed interest in early maturing varieties given the frequent
drought spells which are causing total yield losses in some parts of the
country. In an attempt to search for new varieties with preferred
attributes by stakeholders, a set of upland rice varieties mostly NERICAs
were obtained from the Africa Rice Center (WARDA) and others from
Madagascar for evaluation in Uganda. Two NERICAs 1 and 10 have proved to
be promising, the former being early maturing in 105 days and aromatic,
while the latter NERICA 10 takes 100 days to maturity and all give yields
of over 3 t/ha under farmers’ management conditions. Additionally, in a
preliminary survey carried out in 4 districts covering 380 rice farmers to
establish how they were copping up with the crop production, it was
observed that most farmers have become very innovative by carrying out
practices like dry planting at least a week before the onset of the rains
(54% of the farmers surveyed) and yields obtained are higher than those
planting at the start of rains. In terms of varieties grown, NERICA 4 (NARIC
3) was the most popular upland variety, grown by 37.9% followed by other
improved varieties (27.6%) with the remainder being local. Also noted was
that experience is contributing greatly to higher yields obtained. Farmers
who have grown rice for the last 5 seasons were getting better yields
compared to those starting and in terms of age, most farmers are in the
age bracket of 20 - 40 years an indication that the young are always
adventurous, flexible and adopt new technologies very fast.
Additional information related to the article
Contact
Information
George Bigirwa (PhD)
Plant Pathologist & Head Cereals Program
Namulonge Agric. Research Institute
P.O. Box 7084, Kampala, Uganda
Office Tel: 256 41 370907
Cell phone 256 772 405600
Email. g.bigirwa@naro-ug.org |
