Bucyanayandi advises agriculture researchers to support farmers

Nov 11, 2014

The minister of agriculture, animal industry and fisheries Tress Bucyanayandi has challenged agriculture researchers to orient their work towards addressing needs of farmers at the grassroots.

By Raymond Baguma                               

The minister of agriculture, animal industry and fisheries Tress Bucyanayandi has challenged agriculture researchers to orient their work towards addressing needs of farmers at the grassroots.


He was speaking at the closure of second biennial scientific conference of the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) in Kampala. The conference was held under the theme, “Connecting agricultural research to society.”

The conference attracted participants who included policy makers, scientists, academicians, donors, traders, farmers and agriculture extension workers from within and outside Uganda.

Bucyanayandi said: “In most cases, technologies are developed without consulting the end users, only to remain on the shelf unused.”

Also, he noted that various categories of people in agriculture, work in isolation yet they are addressing the same problem. This creates duplication which wastes resources and efforts.

“It is one reason why adoption of certain technologies has taken long,” he added.

He said with Uganda’s population at about 35 million people, and growing at an annual rate of 3.2 percent every year, providing sufficient food and a surplus for income generation is not an easy task.

He said that agricultural research today has improved, with focus on food security, income generation and better livelihood. Also, there are more agriculture research institutes with universities, and private sector involved in research.

“Producing technologies, innovations and knowledge that will not be put to good use is a waste of resources in terms of money, human resource and time,” he said.

He also advised scientists and researchers to consider entering into protocols and international cooperation. Coordination and partnership will be paramount in increasing technology dissemination and adoption.

Earlier in the conference, Prof. Joseph Obua, the chairperson of the NARO council asked Government and donors to increase financial support to agriculture research. He also asked Government to consider and pass relevant policies that affect research such as the Biotechnology and Biosafety Bill and the Intellectual Property Rights bill.

 

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});