The Africa Rice Centre (WARDA) Director General, Dr Papa Abdoulaye Seck, has affirmed that Africa could become one of the largest granaries of the world, provided African leaders and stakeholders recognize and make optimal use of the continent's huge multi-faceted and untapped resources.

"Africa has enough water, land, large agro-ecological diversity, human capital and technologies that are available but lie underutilized because of the lack of effective innovation systems." Dr Seck stated at the roundtable on Poverty and Hunger, which was co-chaired by H.E. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Prime Minister of Spain

In his speech titled "Can Africa feed itself?", Dr Seck underlined that the combination of four factors - appropriate technologies, infrastructure quality, economic and institutional environment and preservation of natural resources - would positively transform African agriculture.

Dr. Seck said that a recent simulation study by WARDA showed that Africa could become a net exporter of rice, providing more than 5 million tonnes per year to the international market while ensuring cost and quality competitiveness.

It would be possible to achieve this by increasing the area under rice cultivation by 15% without deforestation, and by adopting NERICA® and other improved rice varieties and farming practices developed by WARDA and its partners.