By Prossy Nandudu and Agnes Nantambi
The agriculture ministry, through its research arm — the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO), has released new crop varieties for food security, nutrition, industry and to boost exports.
The varieties were released to the public on Monday by the director general of NARO, Dr Yona Baguma.
This was during World Food Day celebrations at the National Coffee Research Institute (NaCORI) in Kituza, Mukono district. Baguma said the new varieties and technologies are in response to the growing factors threatening food security such as climate change, rapid population growth, urbanisation and unexpected shocks from natural disasters.
The released varieties will also address the agro-industrialisation agenda of the country, nutrition of both humans and livestock, disease and pest tolerance.
NARO’s contribution to exports
During the event, 10 coffee wilt disease-resistant varieties, with the capacity to yield up to 3.9 tonnes per hectare, were released.
Dr Godfrey Arinaitwe, the director of research at NaCORI, said the new coffee varieties can be processed into many products for the export market.
These include oils, soluble coffee and the beans are big, which attracts premium price compared to other sizes.
Still under export, five commercial tea varieties that are resilient to drought, but still have the taste and most requirements needed by the market, were released.
To support fish exports, researchers from the National Agricultural Research Laboratories (NARL) Kawanda have developed and deployed biological agents to control water hyacinth.
The biological agents are also being used to control the Kaliba weed, also known as Nankabirwa weed, that first affected fish breeding in lakes Kyoga and Victoria and other water bodies that supply the country with fish.
To reduce imports of commodities such as wheat, Baguma said researchers are in advanced stages of releasing Uganda’s wheat varieties through the Buginyanya Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute.
In the meantime, Baguma said a number of value-added prototypes from improved local crop varieties such as cassava and sweet potatoes can reduce the percentage of wheat in confectioneries.
“An example is that self-stable sweet potato purée can substitute up to 50%-60% wheat in bakery, leading to import substitution of wheat in addition to reducing the use of sugar in bakery,” Baguma explained.
He added that for rice, 20 high-yielding rice varieties such as NARORICE 1-4, WDR-73, whose yield ranges from 4.5 to 6.5 tonnes per hectare, can now be accessed and planted by farmers.
Baguma is optimistic that the new rice varieties will increase production from the national average yield of 1.2 tonnes to 2.2 tonnes per hectare for upland conditions and 2.5 tonnes per hectare for the lowland rice.
He added that such production will drive the country towards 70% rice sufficiency.
Coffee varieties and beans NARO
has developed 10 coffee wilt disease-resistant varieties (KR1-10) with a yield of 3.9 tonnes per hectare compared to the disease susceptible varieties with average yield of 1.5 tonnes per hectare and a number of value-added prototypes of coffee products and by-products with multiple desirable attributes.
Baguma added that seven bean varieties that are rich in iron and zinc, and 11 sweet potato varieties rich in vitamin A are now ready.
“These are suitable for vulnerable groups such as breastfeeding mothersand children and this is saving the country the health burden of micronutrient deficiencies estimated at $899m (about sh3.4 trillion — 5.6% of GDP) annually,” Baguma added.
Sorghum for industry
NARO has developed sorghum varieties such as Sesso 1 and NAROSORG 1 that are suitable for industries, especially brewing beer.
To promote these, NARO has signed memoranda of understanding with leading breweries to make use of researched technologies. Baguma said limited budget for research to respond to emerging challenges, especially with the advent of climate change, affected them.
Of the sh300b needed for agricultural research annually, Baguma said they were allocated sh166b in this financial year’s budget.
Minister pledges support
While receiving the varieties and technologies, the agriculture minister, Frank Tumwebaze, commended the research team and pledged the ministry’s support to research anddevelop more technologies that will be released every year, during the World Food Day celebrations.
To increase food production, Tumwebaze said the ministry is pursuing a mechanisation programme, where precision farming technologies such as irrigation, water harvesting and storage facilities and construction of dams are ongoing with support from development partners.
He cited the National Agricultural Advisory Services, that has distributed solar-powered micro irrigation systems to smallholder farmers, while through the Uganda Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfer programme, irrigation demonstration sites are set up in different parts of the country to train farmers practically.
Development partners
This year’s celebrations were held under the theme; Water is life, Water is Food: Leaving no one Behind”.
Commenting on the theme of the day, Antonio Querido, the country representative of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), said the theme was timely and called for solutions that will ensure adequate water supply in water-stressed areas.
He said increases in extreme weather conditions such as drought and flooding are stressing food systems, which, if not addressed, could result in global food insecurity.
Querido added that through the water ministry, FAO had established water for production facilities in 30 districts in Uganda.
The facilities include valley tanks with capacities ranging from 6000 to 10,000 cubic metres, sprinkler and hydrant micro-irrigation systems, shallow well irrigation systems as well as underground and rooftop water harvesting tanks.
In the cattle corridor districts of Nakaseke, Mubende, Kiboga, Luwero, Nakasongola and Sembabule, valley tanks that can support up to 3,000 head of cattle each are in place.
Micro-level water for production facilities are in Karamoja, West Nile and southwestern Uganda.
At the same event, the World Food Programme representative, Abdirahman Meygag, highlighted the impact of climate change on food production, saying in 2022, due to climate change, 56.8 million people around the globe suffered from acute food insecurity.
To date, 345 million people are facing acute food insecurity.
He added that in the Karamoja sub-region alone, insecurity, extreme weather and poverty have left almost half the population facing crisis levels of hunger.
“Reducing humanitarian needs by making vulnerable communities more resilient is as important as responding to crises when they arise,” Meygag said.
Water conservation
To support farmers in storing water, the director of research at NARL Kawanda, Dr Robooni Tumuhimbise, advised the farming community to embrace water-saving technologies.
Such technologies being prompted at Kawanda include soil conservation practices such as mulching to prevent moisture from escaping, the use of permanent planting basins that gather run-off water to save it for plants, as well as technologies such as the rippers for minimum opening of land.
Through the technology station in Namalere, Tumuhimbise said they have developed machinery to aid farmers in supplying water, like foot-operated pedal pumps and rippers for minimum tillage of land.
He cautioned the public against deforestation, bush burning, charcoal burning, use of river banks and lake shores for farming, saying these fuel climate-related disasters experienced in the country today.
Maize
A total of 45 maize stress-resilient varieties, including hybrid maize varieties such as NAROMAIZE 61, 62, UH 5051, 5354 (Bazooka) 5055 and Longe 8H, 10H, that can withstand the changing climate, were also released.
In terms of yield, these give about eight to 10 tonnes per hectare compared to the older seed varieties that usually yield less than three tonnes per hectare.
For farmers to access the released seed, Baguma said these are already with the 30 seed companies that were licensed by the agriculture ministry to trade in seed.
PHOTO CAPTION: Dr Godfrey Arinaitwe (front-right), showing Tumwebaze (centre) and other guests new coffee varieties
during celebrations to mark the World Food Day in Kituuza, Mukono on Monday. Photo by Agnes Nantambi
