Tropical sub-Saharan Africa has a total of 200 x 10%a of wetlands that exist in the form of small inland valleys, river floodplains, inland basins, and coastal wetlands. At present, an estimated 3 x 106 ha of these lands are used for cultivation of rain fed lowland rice and there are few irrigated paddies. Yet the development of the wetlands for the cultivation of rice and other food crops could be a major step toward solving the food crisis that has resulted from the erratic rainfall during the past decade coupled with the badly degraded soils that have reduced yields of food crops in the uplands.