Does Azolla have any future in agriculture?

For centuries Azolla has been recognized as a useful plant by farmers from limited areas of southern China, northern Vietnam and South America. It was not until the sixties nevertheless that a boom in Azolla research appeared, simultaneously, in China and Vietnam, accompanied by a wide increase of Azolla cultivation in these countries. The first oil crisis, in 1973, induced a world-wide interest for biological N-fixation, and thus for Azolla, and research programmes on this plant were initiated during the late seventies by international organizations such as the International Rice Research Institute and the West Africa Rice Development Association but also by many other research centres, all around the world. A great enthusiasm, during the eighties, has recently been succeeded by a period of skepticism about the potential of Azolla in agriculture. Time seems ripe for critically reviewing the major points of view recently expressed on this matter. The present communication is devoted to this task; the conclusion will be reached that Azolla has a promising future in some regions. Strategies aimed at improving the effective use of Azolla will be suggested; they include laboratory as well as held work.