Résumé
Rice-growing areas in France cover merely 15,000 ha planted with temperate japonica varieties, yielding an average of 5 tons per hectare a year. In spite of this, French research institutions like IRAT-CIRAD4 and ORSTOM5 have for many years been conducting rice collaborative research and extension programs in many tropical countries, mainly in Africa. Since its foundation in the early 1960’s, IRAT has focused its rice program on upland environments because of its partnership with West African countries, where 60% of the rice acreage is grown under upland conditions. The IRAT rice breeding program has so far released more than 180 varieties well known for their stable yield under adverse environments. This program also involves the use of advanced technologies that aim to improve breeding efficiency: biochemical markers (Glaszmann et al. 1984), wide hybridization (Taillebois 1983), and anther culture (Guiderdoni et al. 1986).