South Korea opens a research centre in Uganda

Rural Development Administration of South Korea has opened up a research centre in Uganda aimed at increasing the country’s agricultural productivity through research.

Executives at the state-run agricultural research institute at the National Crop Resources Laboratories, Kawanda, will provide technical cooperation for a range of activities, from agricultural development projects to the training of Ugandan researchers and farmers.

RDA Deputy Administrator Dr. Ra Seungyong said Korea Project on International Agriculture-Uganda will work with NARO in developing locally adaptable technologies and seeds by sharing knowledge and experience with the country’s researchers.

“We also hope to disseminate localized technologies and practices to local farmers through demonstration projects as well as build better research capacity through exchange programmes for scientists and experts,” Dr. Seungyong said in Kampala last week during the launch of the new centre.

So far, KOPIA-Uganda has already partnered with National Animal Genetic Resource Center and Data Bank to come up with a preservation protocol of the Ankole Semen and plans are underway to unveil a $3.5 million farmer’s training college in Mpigi District in July.

The new development comes at the time Uganda’s agricultures sector is struggling with low funding amidst employing over 70 per cent of the population, the scenario that has consistently led to low contribution to the to the country’s Gross Domestic Product compared with other sectors like services and manufacturing.

In Uganda, agriculture’s contribution to GDP has averaged 20 per cent for the past five years, with growth figures as low as three per cent.

Dr. Ambrose Agona, the director general at NARO said the new partnership with the Korean scientists will boost agricultural productivity, which has over the years remained low leading to low incomes to farmers, food insecurity and malnutrition.

“We strongly believe that this relationship is going to uplift our Ugandan farmers from subsistence farming to commercial in the coming years,” Dr. Agona said, in reference to South Korea’s development model.

For the last 50 years, South Korea has experienced dramatic and unprecedented transformation in its agriculture sector, driven by revolutionary technological advancement, which set the war-torn nation free from chronic famine and food shortage.

Having almost no natural resources and always suffering from overpopulation in its small territory, which deterred continued population growth and the formation of a large internal consumer market, South Korea later adapted an export-oriented economic strategy to fuel its economy.

Currently, South Korea is one of the world's wealthiest nations, and is a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the G-20 major economies.

The Agriculture Minister in Uganda Dr. Zarababel Nyiira said it is time for Ugandan farmers to benefit from South Korea’s technologies to grow their incomes especially with value addition.

South Korea established RDA in 2009 to share its experience and knowledge with the developing countries developing for economic transformation.

RDA has now set up 20 KOPIA centers in Africa, Southeast Asia, central Asian states, and Latin America to deal with local and regional issues in agriculture and rural development such as food security, resource depletion and climate change.

In Africa, KOPIA has research centres in Kenya, DR Congo, Algeria, and Ethiopia working on various projects and technologies such as rice growing and artificial insemination in livestock. END