Rokupr Agricultural Research Centre

ROKUPR AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH CENTRE- ROKUPR

Background

The Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute (SLARI) is mandated to implement the agricultural policies and strategies of the Government of Sierra Leone. To fully perform its mandate the Institute has adopted a programme approach to its research planning and management. Administratively, the research programme areas of focus corresponds to the seven research Centres that constitute the Institute.

One of the Centres is;

ROKUPR AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH CENTRE- ROKUPR

Has the mandate to coordinate and implement research programmes in the area of cereal crops including the country’s staple rice, sorghum, maize, Digitaria and pearl millet.

The Rokupr Agricultural Research Centre-Rokupr is one of the constituent research Centres of Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute (SLARI) mandated to conduct research on cereal crops including the country’s staple rice, maize, sorghum, Digitaria and pearl millet.

The Centre was established in 1934 as the West Africa Research Institute (WARRI) and was the beacon of rice research in Anglophone West Africa before the era of independence. During this period, the Station serves as the Centre for research on rice for English speaking West Africa. In post- independence Sierra Leone, WARRI became the Rokupr Rice Research Station (RRRS) with a mandate for research on all rice ecologies (Upland, Inland Valley Swamps, Bolilands, Mangrove Swamps and the Riverine) in Sierra Leone.

Between 1964 and 1971, RRRS was attached to the faculty of Agriculture, Njala University College and in 1971, RRRS assumed a semi-autonomous Institution with a Board of Management and a Director. Rokupr was one of the two institutions of the National Agricultural Research Coordinating Council (NARCC) in Sierra Leone established in 1984.

In 2007, and by an Act of Parliament, it was transformed to the Rokupr Agricultural Research Centre (RARC) under the Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute (SLARI). After a review of the 2007 SLARI act, the Centre was renamed to date the Rokupr Agricultural Research Centre-Rokupr (RARC-Rokupr)

LOCATION

The Headquarters of RARC-Rokupr is at Rokupr town in the Magbema Chiefdom, Kambia District, 20 nautical miles from the Atlantic Ocean along the Great Scarcies and 112 miles from Freetown by road. RARC-Rokupr also operates Out-Station Crop Sites at Blama, Bo, Torma Bum and Gbomsamba.

ORGANIZATION

Work in the Centre is organized in programs including:

• Crop Improvement – comprising crop breeding, seed technology units.
• Soil, Crop Management & Natural Resources – comprising, Soils, Agronomy, Physiology, Pathology/ Virology, Entomology, Vertebrate Pest Units and Analytical services laboratory.
• Engineering, Post- harvest & Food Technology – comprising Agricultural Engineering, Nutrition and Farm Management Units.
• Socio- Economics, Policy Research & Outreach – comprising Agricultural Extension, Agricultural Economics, Sociology, Gender and Outreach Units.

And three support division: – Administration, Estate and Accounts.

OBJECTIVE

To generate and promote innovative technologies for cereal crops (Rice, Maize, Sorghum, Millet and Digitaria) and empowerment of stakeholders along the cereal value chain.

CENTRE PROGRAMME FOCUS

At RARC, research on rice and other cereal crops is centered on the Agricultural Produce Value Chain and focused on all five different agro-ecologies in the country. The cereal program focuses on six product value chains:-

1. Development and promotion of Upland rice product value chain.
2. Development and promotion of Lowland rice product value chain.
3. Development and promotion of Maize product value chain.
4. Development and promotion of Sorghum product value chain.
5. Development and promotion of Pearl millet product value chain.
6. Development and promotion of Digitria product value chain

MAIN PRIORITIES AND THRUSTS

Research priorities focus on problems connected with sustaining and increasing yields of rice and other mandate crops under normal and stressed conditions in the country.

The principal thrusts are to sustain the quality of agricultural lands, to develop the knowledge based that could enable farmers to maximize their economic efficiency and profitability in production, processing and marketing of crops of the cereal based cropping systems in Sierra Leone.

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION

At the National level, the Centre has strong collaborative links with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security (MAFFS), Njala University, University of Sierra Leone, and NGOs involved in Agricultural Research and Extension.

Internationally the Centre has strong ties with the AfricaRice, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRSAT), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), CORAF, and JICA.