Recently, significant progress has been made in the trial cultivation project of perennial rice in Burundi. With the help of agricultural experts from BGI Bioverse, a subsidiary of BGI Group, local residents have successfully completed the planting of rice for the first season. Burundi joins Uganda, Madagascar, and Malawi as African nations that have successfully introduced perennial rice.

Perennial rice varieties have revolutionized rice cultivation, transforming it from an annual to a perennial cycle, allowing for a single planting to yield continuous harvests over 2 to 4 years. Starting from the second year, the traditional requirements for rice planting, such as buying seeds, raising seedlings, field plowing, and seedling transplanting, are eliminated and only field management and harvesting are needed. In this way, perennial rice can greatly reduce planting costs and improve production efficiency.

The Burundian local farmers are working in the fields.

Perennial rice was selected as one of the FAO's International Agricultural Technology Innovations in 2018 as the only commercially viable technology for perennial food crop production globally. The cultivation of perennial rice has also been named by Science as one of the top 10 scientific developments of 2022, becoming the only Chinese project to be featured in the leading journal’s annual listing. 

Perennial rice also received high recognition in Africa and was incorporated into the agricultural technology advancement framework at the High-Level Ministerial Session of the fifth African Union (AU) Specialized Technical Committee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water, and Environment (ARDWE). It was also featured in the 'African Union Seeds and Biotechnology Program 2024-2025'.

Located in the Great Rift Valley of Africa, to the south side of the Equator, Burundi features both subtropical and tropical climates with abundant daylight and heat. However, due to its sub-optimal level of agricultural productivity, the food production is limited, which calls for a new method to secure local food supply.

This supply and demand combination was brought to light by the visit of the First Lady of Burundi, Her Excellency Mrs. Angeline Ndayishimiye, in July 2023. During her tour at BGI Bioverse’s agricultural technology demonstration base, she gained an in-depth understanding of the cultivation history of perennial rice and its unique characteristic of 'multiple harvests from a single planting.' She proposed to establish a perennial rice planting demonstration base in Burundi.

In September, the Burundi Office of the President officially extended its invitation of cooperation to BGI, expressing a strong desire to quickly introduce the perennial rice. BGI accepted the invitation and the collaboration started. 

Two months later, BGI Bioverse's agricultural experts arrived in Burundi and commenced preliminary preparations to establish a perennial rice planting demonstration base, including location scouting, project research and seed selection. The project advanced at a fast pace. This month, under the careful guidance of BGI experts, and after preparation work such as seedling cultivation, field preparation, plowing, and field leveling, the first batch of perennial rice seedlings was neatly planted in the trial fields in Burundi. 

The successful implementation of the perennial rice trial project in Burundi marks a new chapter for the modernization and sustainable development of African agriculture, which is a testament to BGI's commitment to strengthening cooperation with Africa.