Agriculture policy research in Uganda gets $5 million grant

The Netherlands’s Government is investing $5 million to support a four-year research on policies seeking to improve agriculture productivity in Uganda.

The project dubbed Policy Action for Sustainable Intensification of Ugandan Cropping Systems will be hosted by the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture in Uganda, together with the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Economic Policy Research Centre and the International Food Policy Research Institute.

The research will be carried out in south western highlands for Irish potatoes and Lake Kioga plains of eastern Uganda for rice. The two zones are characterised by high population pressure, small farm sizes of less than two hectares with no option for expansion, making traditional farming unsustainable.

IITA’s country repressive Piet Van Asten said the research aims to ensure that the evidence on constraints and opportunities for intensification of two cropping systems are gathered and communicated, zonal investment plans are prepared and owned by key stakeholders as well as actions are initiated for the removal of bottlenecks in national polices relevant to agricultural intensification.

“We believe that PASIC will generate vital knowledge and evidence for decision makers to plan public investments and attract responsible private entities,” Mr. Piet said.

Mr. Piet said PASIC will focus on major constraints hampering effective agriculture policy actions including fragmentation of the roles and mandates in the agriculture sector, largely due to establishment of several autonomous agencies in the agriculture ministry, insufficient funding, inadequate human resources, lengthy policy formulation and implementation as well as duplication of programmes.

The project will mainly target small holder farmers who have the capacity to intensify production through improved agronomic practices, market-oriented production or increased use of inputs.

Dutch Ambassador to Uganda Alphons Hennekens said the country’s improved agriculture productivity lies in the intensification of cropping systems by using fertilisers, improved seeds, good agronomic practices and attracting investors for buying farmers produce.

Uganda’s rice production currently stands at 250 metric tonnes per year despite of the high demand for the crop that has nearly doubled, said Agriculture Minister Tress Bucyanayandi, adding that Irish potato production has also remained low.

IITA is a Nigerian based non-profit agriculture organisation started in 1967,   working with other partners to enhance crop quality and productivity, reduce producer and consumer risks, and generate wealth from agriculture, with the ultimate goals of reducing hunger, malnutrition and poverty.

IITA's research-for-development focuses on addressing the development needs of tropical countries across Africa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EAC now eyes promoting aquaculture even as fish in Lake Victoria surges

The East African Community is now eyeing at promoting aquaculture in the region to boost food security and export earnings even as fish in Lake Victoria starts to increase.

EAC’s Deputy Secretary General Jessica Eriyo said the secretariat is developing a programme that will encourage farmers in the region embrace fish farming.

“So far, we have brought together experts on aquaculture across the region and development partners including Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency to look at the opportunities, challenges and to come up with some measures to address those challenges,” Ms. Eriyo said.

Ms. Eriyo said the secretariat has met twice with the stakeholders to work on the programme expected to be rolled out next year.

Ms. Eriyo said the new progamme is expected to boost the region’s export fish earnings given that the demand for fish within and outside the region especially Europe continues to grow.

Aquaculture, which involves cultivating fresh water and saltwater populations of fish under controlled conditions as opposed to catching fish in the wild, is one of the world’s fastest growing sources of animal protein, projected to raise 33 percent over by 2020, to reach to 79 million tonnes, says Food and Agricultural Organisation report 2012 on the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture.

EAC states exports most of its fish to Italy, Lebanon, Jordan, Belgium, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, Spain, Greece, and France. Other importers includes; Turkey, China, Australia, Hong Kong, Egypt, and the United States of America.

Dr. Oliva Mkumbo, the programme's focal person at the Jinja –based Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation (LVFO) told The EastAfrican that whereas fishing sector in Lake Victoria is showing signs of recovery, a lot is still needed to curb illegal fishing especially of Nile Perch as well as promote aquaculture in the region.

 “There’s a sign of recovery but not that significant,” Dr. Mkumbo said, adding that not only illegal fishing is hampering the growth of the region’s fishing  sector  but also those using illegal fishing gears.

LVFO data shows that fish export earnings from three East African Countries-Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania- registered a 17 per cent growth in earnings in 2012 citing strict measure to curb illegal fishing and high prices at the international market.

 However, LVFO and fish exporters and exporters in the region could not state changes in prices on the international market due to continued price fluctuations on different markets.

The region exported 74,540 tonnes last year worth $340.7 million compared with 56, 040 tonnes worth $291 million exported in 2011.

In spite of the continued growth trend of the region’s fish export earnings between 1992 and 1998, the sector has since then undergone numerous challenges including illegal fishing and market shocks that have continued to affect the region’s export earnings.

For instance, the region’s fish export earnings declined from $ 130.6 million in 1998 to $ 122.7 million in 1999 when the European Union banned fresh fish imports from eastern Africa because of the cholera epidemic that hit Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. The export volumes also declined from 61, 900 tonnes in 1998 to 49,600 tonnes in 1999.

And between 2008 and   2011, the regions export volumes as well as earnings also decline tremendously from 71.700 tonnes worth $ 323.4million to merely 56,000tonnes worth $ 291 million due to illegal fishing and the effects of the euro-crisis.

The effects of the 2008 global financial crisis led to a decline in demand for fish in Europe in as countries tried to put in measures to meet the rising cost of living.

This year, the total world’s fish production, according to FAO, is projected to reach over 160 million tonnes.

Fish production is projected to reach 161.2 million tonnes by the close of 2013, showing a 2.9 per cent growth compared with 2012 whereas the value of exports is expected to grow by two per cent to $ 130.8billion.

 

Low yields could force region to adopt GM crops

In spite of ongoing campaigns against growing genetically modified crops in East Africa, the effects of climate change, pests and diseases as well as rapid population growth could see farmers in the region embrace GM crops as soon as biotechnology laws are passed.

Scientists who gathered in Kampala on September 27 to mark 10 years of the existence of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) said farmers in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi must grow GM crops alongside their conventional crops if the region is to achieve food security.

AATF is a not-for-profit organisation that promotes public-private partnerships for access to and delivery of appropriate agricultural technologies for sustainable use by smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa.

Yonah Baguma, a principal research officer at the National Agricultural Research Organisation in Uganda said conventional crop breeding has proven unsuccessful in making crops to diseases and pests.

“We as scientists embarked on using biotechnology in developing resistant planting materials because conventional methods proved futile,” said Dr Baguma.

READ: East African scientists defend work on GMOs

Sterile crops

Dr Baguma added that some crops such as cassava and bananas are difficult to breed for resistance using conventional methods as they are sterile, and thus do not produce fruits.

So far, Uganda has approved and carried out field trials on banana to test black sigatoka disease resistance (2007-2009); two trials to evaluate Bacterium throngesis and roundup ready cotton (2009-2010); a trial to test cassava mosaic virus resistance (2009-2010); and two ongoing trials to test banana bio-fortified with vitamin A and iron, to test resistance to banana bacterial wilt.

READ: Ugandan scientists to start trials on GM potato for resistance against blight

The scientists are also carrying out confined field trials on GM maize to test their resistance to stem borer and drought as well as Irish potato to test resistance to Phytophthora infestans, the fungus that causes potato blight.

This puts Uganda at the helm of carrying out confined field trials on GM crops in different parts of the country.

Kenya is carrying out confined field trials on cassava to test for resistance against cassava mosaic virus, cotton for insect resistance and maize to test drought and insect resistance. The country’s scientists are also carrying out research on sweet potato for disease resistance as well as bio-fortified sorghum enhanced with vitamin A, zinc and iron.

Commercialisation

Kenya is working towards commercialising GM cotton by next year after successful field trials showed the crop’s ability to cushion farmers against high production costs. Uganda projects to commercialise the crop in 2017. Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda are yet to start trials on GM crops.

The GM cotton variety is resistant to pests and diseases, which have contributed to low yields.

In Africa, only South Africa, Egypt, Burkina Faso and Sudan have commercialised GM crops, according to the Global Status of Commercialised Biotech/GM Crops: 2012 report released by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications.

Until 2008, South Africa was the only country in Africa that allowed the commercial cultivation of GM crops, such as maize, cotton and soybeans.

In the same year, Egypt started growing small quantities of GM maize, followed by Burkina Faso, which allowed GM cotton. Last year, Sudan allowed growing of GM cotton.

South Africa accounts for nearly all of the three million hectares of GM crop plantings in Africa, dwarfing the 129,000 hectares in a largely GM-free Europe but still a tiny fraction of the 170 million hectares of global GM crops.

Globally, more land in developing countries is under GM crops compared with industrialised countries, for the first time since the introduction of the technology two decades ago, the report said.

“Out of the 28 countries that planted GM crops in 2012, 20 were developing and eight were industrial countries, compared with 19 developing and 10 industrial countries in 2011,” said the report, signifying a major shift by farmers to growing GM crops.

Many African countries are currently at different stages of enacting biosafety legislation, ranging from functional, interim and “work-in-progress” national biosafety frameworks.

Uganda GMO maize trials shows promising results

Results from the ongoing confined trials in Uganda on genetically modified maize that is resistant to the stem-borer are having promising results with the transgenic lines planted early this year showing complete resistance to the pest.

Ugandan scientists introduced Bacillus Thuringiensis, a naturally occurring soil bacterium that protects crops against pests, to maize stock obtained from South Africa to create resistance to the devastating stalk-borers (Chilo partellus and Busseola fusca). The trials are part of a three-year research project under the Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) project that started in 2008.

WEMA is a sub-regional, public-private partnership project between the Nairobi-based African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) and national agro-research systems of five sub-Saharan African countries — Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa.

Michael Otim, the principal project investigator at the National Crop Resources Research Institute, Namulonge, told The EastAfrican that all the eight lines of GM maize planted in the confined field trial at the foothill of Mt Rwenzori, western Uganda, have proved resistant to the pest compared with the 12 lines of non-GM maize.

Dr Otim said the next phase will involve a second trial at Namulonge in central Uganda.

Stalk-borers are a class of pest made up of a number of moth species that lay their eggs at night on the underside of emerging leaves of young maize plants.

The larvae, or caterpillars, that hatch from the eggs, quickly make their way inside the plant, where they feed on the crop undisturbed.

Scientists say stalk-borers in Uganda are currently rampant in Kasese, western Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania; causing at least 20 per cent crop loss for farmers every year.

Scientists say if the research on the GM maize proves successful in the subsequent trials, the crop could be commercialised in the country by 2017 subject to the enactment of the biotechnology law.

Commercial release

The National Biosafety Bill, which intends to introduce biotechnology seeds and allow commercial release of GM products from ongoing research into the market, is currently before parliament for approval.

Uganda’s trials on BT maize are being carried out in tandem with those for transgenic drought-resistant (DT) maize as well as stalk-borer resistance using conventional methods.

Kenya is also carrying out confined fields trials on the GM maize resistant to the pest at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute.

Research on GM maize in Uganda comes at a time when some countries including South Africa are battling with the pest even after resorting to GM maize that is supposed to be resistant to it.

Last year, stalk-borer was discovered feeding on GM maize in South Africa even after farmers applied the refugee land strategy in managing the new generation of hard-to-kill pests.