Dr. Monty Jones
was born in 1951 in
Sierra Leone's
capital Freetown and
raised in a strict
middle-class
catholic family. The
Irish fathers who
ran Dr. Jones school
had hoped to
persuade him to join
the priesthood,
however the young
Dr. Jones felt he
had a mission
elsewhere. Growing
up in Freetown gave
Dr. Jones very
little exposure to
agriculture, but he
still dreamed of
helping to produce
food that would feed
the world.
He was admitted
into then Njala
University College,
University of Sierra
Leone where he
attained a B.Sc in
Agricultural General
in 1974, he later
went on to receive
an M.Sc. in Plant
Genetic Resources
(1979) and a Ph.D.
in Plant Biology
(1983) from the
University of
Birmingham in the
United Kingdom.
Dr. Jones had
started his career
in the 1975 at the
West Africa Rice
Development Agency
(WARDA) in its
Mangrove Swamp Rice
Research Project in
Rokupr, Sierra
Leone. It was while
he was at Rokpur
that Dr. Jones first
came across Oryza
glaberrima, an
indigenous African
rice species. He was
struck by the fact
that farmers in
difficult
environments
continued to grow
the species in
preference to the
higher-yielding
Oryza sativa
varieties, native to
Asia, that were also
available.
Clearly O.
glaberrima was
better adapted to
local environmental
stresses, but was
what if the Asian
variety with its
high yields could be
adapted to the
African environment?
In the early 1991
Dr. Jones moved to
the West Africa Rice
Development
Association (WARDA)
main research centre
and headquarters at
Mbe near Bouake in
Cote d'Ivoire. He
took up the post of
Upland Rice Breeder
and here he was able
realise his long
cherished dream of
crossing the Asian
and African rice
species. Crossing
different species is
very challenging as
the offspring runs a
high risk of
sterility. Dr. Jones
and his team were
able to successfully
achieve this and
produce high yield,
yet durable, NERICA
- New Rice for
Africa - variety.
This was a major
breakthrough and in
2004 he was honoured
for his work by
being awarded the
World Food Prize.
Dr. Jones oversaw
breeding programs
for the NERICA
species and programs
have been
successfully started
across West Africa.
In Nigeria, NERICA
has resulted in over
30 percent expansion
in upland rice
cultivation.
Guinea’s rice
imports reduced by
50 percent in three
years, and the
country became a net
exporter of the
grain in 2005.
In 2002, Dr.
Jones was appointed
the executive
secretary of the
Forum for
Agricultural
Research in Africa,
based in Ghana. At
FARA, he oversees
advocacy and
coordination efforts
in support of
regional research,
with the goal of
increasing
agricultural growth
by at least 6
percent annually by
2020 as well as
fostering ongoing
economic growth,
alleviating poverty,
and improving food
security for
Africa’s people.
