By Prossy Nandudu
Members of Parliament on Forum of Food security are drafting a law that will promote food security and safety. The move is to ensure that there is adequate production of food that is also safe for the market.
Anthony Akol, the chairperson of the forum said the bill currently with the legal and technical team of parliament will among others propose measures to manage the quality and safety of food items both for domestic and export markets.
Without divulging more details, Akol said the law will also have defined responsibilities for government, which include the construction of storage facilities and farmer’s responsibilities.
In a telephone interview on Monday, Akol said that rejection of Uganda’s agriculture produces due to contamination from aflatoxins, presence of chemical residues, pests like moths is limiting the country’s earnings from agriculture exports.
For the draft law which he has termed as the Food Security and Nutrition Bill 2023 to be effective Akol said that the committee has written to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for technical assistance.
The interview was a follow up of Akol’s revelation of the committee’s initiatives to ensure that the country produces enough but also quality for foods, during the launch of the One CGIAR center on Wednesday at Kawanda.
“We are drafting a law that will ensure food safety and nutrition. We are discussing with the FAO through its technical team to work with Parliament for this law to address the major challenges faced by the country’s agriculture system,” said Akol.
For the country to increase production Akol appealed to researcher to increase the popularization of their innovation to be embraced by farmers across the country.
“We cannot promote storage if there is no production. We should work on extending these technologies to make sure that farmers in rural areas who still use hoes, can have mass production,” Akol said.
