Enhancing Rice Farmers’ Food Security Through Adaptation to Iron Toxicity in Lowlands : Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial in Guinea

Iron toxicity is one of the most important constraints limiting rice production in lowland sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). To improve rice productivity in the affected areas in the context of climate change, new rice varieties with genetic resistance to iron toxicity were developed and released in SSA. This study used a randomized controlled trial to assess the impact of an iron toxicity-tolerant variety, ARICA 6, on the rice production and incomes of smallholder farmers. Two rounds of data were collected in 2016/17 from 520 rice-farming households in Guinea. We found evidence that the use of the ARICA 6 variety increased rice yield by 330 kg ha-1 and net income by US$120 ha-1. The average technical efficiency also increased by 6%. We conclude that the large-scale dissemination of the ARICA 6 rice variety could be a policy option to revive rice production and reduce poverty and food insecurity for rice producers in the context of increasing impact from iron toxicity in lowlands