There are countries in Africa that consume more rice per capita than Japan, and this consumption is increasing every year due to urbanization and population growth. During the decade from 2008 to 2018, rice production in the region has doubled, but consumption also grew significantly, and the increase in production did not lead to increased self-sufficiency. In order to further increase production, it is desirable to improve productivity per land area, i.e. yield, but yield growth has been sluggish due to low inputs of mineral fertilizers and the widespread distribution of nutrient-poor soils. For African countries, which have a long-cherished desire to improve their self-sufficiency, the development of rice breeding and cultivation techniques that enable efficient use of available nutrients is an extremely important issue.

The paper Challenges and opportunities for improving N use efficiency for rice production in sub-Saharan Africa ​​published in Plant Production Science in 2019, provides a comprehensive review of the problems of inadequate fertilizer inputs and nutrient-poor soils in rice production in Africa and ways to improve them. According to the paper, in Africa, there are large differences in topography and soil conditions even within a very small area, creating a large variation in yield response to a certain amount of fertilizer recommended within the area and reducing fertilizer use efficiency.

In response to this, nutrient evaluation methods through remote sensing technologies and integrated empirical knowledge on rice-fertilizer response have been developed in recent years, and attempts are being made to develop decision-making tools for pinpointing and implementing appropriate fertilizer application by identifying differences in soil conditions within a small area at low cost.

We are pleased to announce that this paper has been awarded the 18th Japanese Society of Crop Science Best Paper Award. This award is given to the member of Crop Science Society of Japan who is the author of an outstanding paper published in the journal Plant Production Science.

Reference

Yasuhiro Tsujimoto, Tovohery Rakotoson, Atsuko Tanaka & Kazuki Saito (2019) Challenges and opportunities for improving N use efficiency for rice production in sub-Saharan Africa.
https://doi.org/10.1080/1343943X.2019.1617638

Contributors: TSUJIMOTO Yasuhiro (Crop, Livestock and Environment Division), SAITO Kazuki (Social Sciences Division)