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Farmers’ Preferred Traits and Perceptions of Drought Stress on Rainfed Upland Rice Production across Two Rice Growing States of Nigeria

The intermittent and widespread occurrence of drought in rainfed upland rice fields across sub-Sahara Africa has led to tremendous decrease in food security in the region. Although high yielding, drought tolerant varieties have been developed over years to mitigate this trend, limited adoption had been recorded for most of these materials. This study investigated farmers’ perceptions on drought stress and their preferred traits in new upland rice varieties across two major upland rice growing states in Nigeria. Participatory Rural Appraisal was conducted among 119 rice farmers using comparative approach, probing and semi structured interviews. Result based on farmers knowledge of changes in rainfall pattern and preferred traits such as plant architecture and grain shapes in a new upland rice variety differed significantly across the two state. The results identified drought stress as one of the main constraints to upland rice production across communities. The ideal upland rice variety desired by most respondents in both states should be of medium plant height (115-130cm) characterized by white, long and bold grains. This study has demonstrated the importance of understanding farmer’s desired traits in a new upland rice variety and the need to incorporate identified traits in creation of resilient new upland rice varieties adaptable to rain-fed upland rice growing regions of Nigeria.