NARO of Uganda drives for advanced crop quality, productivity

Published 2020년 10월 29일

Tridge summary

Uganda's agriculture sector, contributing 32% to the country's GDP and 85% of exports, is facing challenges such as declining soil fertility, climate change effects, and pests. To combat these issues, the National Agriculture Research Organisation (NARO) has developed drought-tolerant and disease-resistant crop varieties. These include iron-rich beans and vitamin A-rich sweet potatoes, as well as cassava varieties resistant to diseases awaiting regulation. NARO also uses biotechnology to develop cassava and tomato varieties, and has introduced drought-tolerant maize and sorghum varieties. The new green gram varieties, released by NaSARRI, are early maturing, drought-tolerant, and have higher yields.

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Original content

Agriculture is one of the sectors supporting the country’s economy, contributing about 32% of GDP and 85% of the total exports. However, the sector has of late been faced with various challenges that are threatening food production, health and the productivity of the sector. The most felt challenges include declining soil fertility, increased effects of climate change, poor eating habits due to the disappearance of food items such as indigenous vegetables that provide vitamins to the body, pests and diseases and volatile markets for agriculture produce. For agriculture to remain the driver of Uganda’s economy, through its research arm of the National Agriculture Research Organisation (NARO) the agriculture ministry has developed various technologies to help the sector thrive. For example, in the last five years the number of varieties, released into the system for many crops have increased. The National Crop Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI), which is mandated to produce crop ...

Source: The East African AgriBusiness