AfricaRice and CIMMYT are exploring deeper scientific cooperation to strengthen agricultural resilience and accelerate food-system transformation across Southern Africa.

The partnership gained momentum during a recent visit by AfricaRice Director General Dr Baboucarr Manneh and an international delegation to CIMMYT’s Zimbabwe office, where researchers and regional leaders discussed opportunities to combine their expertise around shared agricultural challenges.

The delegation included representatives from Côte d’Ivoire, Uganda, Nigeria, Thailand and Madagascar. During the visit, participants examined CIMMYT’s research and innovation work in Southern Africa and discussed how collaboration between the two CGIAR centres could translate scientific advances into practical solutions for farmers.

The discussions come as African agriculture faces increasing pressure from climate change, rising food demand, changing markets and the need to improve productivity while making farming systems more resilient.

For AfricaRice, strengthening rice production is particularly important as African countries seek to reduce dependence on imported food and develop more competitive domestic agricultural sectors.

“Agriculture is changing, and our response must increasingly embrace integrated approaches,” Manneh said, highlighting the importance of drawing on global experience while strengthening local rice production.

He said AfricaRice wants to help develop a competitive rice sector that can provide a stronger alternative to imports, while working with partners around challenges where combined scientific expertise can deliver greater impact.

The collaboration reflects a broader shift in agricultural research away from focusing solely on individual crops and toward integrated food systems. CIMMYT’s regional work increasingly links crop improvement with climate-smart agriculture, farming systems, markets and approaches for scaling innovations.

This approach is increasingly important in Southern Africa, where farmers must contend with variable rainfall, rising production costs and pressure to produce more food from limited resources.

Dr Mainassara Zaman-Allah, CIMMYT Country Representative, highlighted Zimbabwe’s role as an important regional research hub and said the organisation’s work is centred on science and innovation, productivity, inclusivity and resilience.

He also stressed the growing importance of collaboration as the international funding and development environment changes.

By combining their research strengths, AfricaRice and CIMMYT aim to move beyond institutional cooperation and develop practical scientific partnerships that can support countries in transforming their food systems.

The potential benefits extend beyond rice. Stronger links between crop research, climate resilience, markets and farmer support can help ensure that innovations are not only developed in laboratories and research stations but also reach farming communities at scale.

For Southern Africa, that connection between research and implementation will be critical. Improving productivity alone will not be enough if farmers lack access to appropriate technologies, markets, finance, knowledge and resilient production systems.

The AfricaRice-CIMMYT engagement therefore points towards a more integrated model of agricultural development, in which research institutions work together to address the interconnected challenges facing farmers and food systems.

As African countries seek greater food security and reduced dependence on imports, partnerships that connect scientific innovation with local agricultural needs could become increasingly important.

The two organisations’ shared ambition is now to turn the latest engagement into practical collaboration capable of delivering lasting benefits for farmers, strengthening resilience and supporting the transformation of food systems across the region.