Cassava, a staple food in much of Africa is, unfortunately, highly susceptible to disease. For that reason, scientists in Uganda are testing a GM variety which is thought to be disease resistant.

However, like GM crops in many places, the new variety has run into controversy and opposition. The problem is Cassava Brown Streak Disease, which appeared in Uganda in 2005 and quickly spread, causing much damage to crops and to growers.

Scientist Titus Alicai thinks he has a solution: cassava plants that have been transformed for resistance to Cassava Brown Streak Disease. Alicai is a cassava breeder for Uganda’s national crop research institute. He shows off a shaded nursery full of thousands of small plants.

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Cattle farmers have finalised preparations for the establishment of a sh1.75 b ($7m) modern abattoir to enable them export meat products abroad.

The farmers under their cooperative the Uganda Meat Producers Cooperative Union (UMPCU) Ltd, have agreed to build an abattoir that meets international standards. The made the decision at their Annual General Meeting held at Uganda Manufacturers Association Lugogo on Wednesday.

A UMPCU official Dr Francis Jumba noted that local cattle farmers will get double the price of their meet products and carcasses, when the project kicks off. He added that farmers will be able to get better breed improvement as part of the benefits accruing out of a Memorandum of Understanding reached between the UMPCU, Fresh Cuts and Top cuts.

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Government has asked investors to stop branding the agricultural sector as a risky area to invest if the country is to address the key destabilizing challenge of agricultural risks.

The call was made by the Minister of State for Animal Industry, Bright Rwamirama while officiating at a workshop on agricultural risk management at the Imperial Royale hotel in Kampala.

He said that many investors have been dodging to invest in the sector which employs the largest population of Ugandans claiming that the agricultural sector is risky thus cannot easily give back returns.

He admitted that sometimes there may be production risks which may be taken for granted until calamity strikes but planning beforehand can improve the situation.

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Illegal fishing methods and insufficient monitoring and enforcements of existing regulations have played their part in the decline of fish stocks for local consumption and export in not only Lake Victoria, but also lakes Albert and George.

Statistics from the Department of Fisheries Resources (DFR) in the fisheries ministry show that after increasing from 1,664 tonnes valued at $1.4m in 1990, to 36,615 tonnes valued at $143.6m in 2005, fish exports to overseas markets dropped to 16,480 tonnes, worth $89.1m by 2011.

This followed a two-fold growth in quantity from 15,876 tonnes, resulting into $34.4m in 2000, to 30,057 tonnes ($102.9m) in 2004, but dropped to 23,430 tonnes ($115.3m) in 2008 and 17,105 tonnes ($91.1m) by 2011.

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Judith Payne, the e-business Advisor at USAID in Washington has reminded agriculture-dependant countries like Uganda to harness the potential of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) if their farmers are to improve their livelihoods.

With about 70% of Ugandans believed to derive their livelihood directly from agriculture, Payne said governments should be working more with the private sector to come up with simple but useful applications that can help farmers to access better farm inputs, weather information and market information on time. She particularly urged government agricultural extension farmers to partner with the private sector to realize better results.

Payne was speaking on Feb.11 at Victoria University in Kampala during the monthly Mobile Monday Kampala forum on how ICTs can help farmers improve their livelihoods.

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