South Korea earmarks $90,000 for citrus research

By Ronald Kalyango

THE South Korean government through its agriculture research body, Korean Project on International Agriculture (KOPIA), has earmarked $90,000 towards improving citrus production in Uganda.

The three year project to be implemented in Soroti, Ngora and Kamuli districts aims at researching on the major diseases as well as the cost effective disease control options.

“The project aims at identifying the major citrus diseases and vectors in Eastern Uganda and factors influencing their distribution,” said Dr. Andrew Kiggundu, the project’s chief investigator.

While speaking during an inception workshop at Kawanda research institute in Wakiso district, Kiggundu noted that they will also develop rapid diagnosis of major diseases and promote cost effective control technologies.

“South Korea through its development arm, Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) is funding construction of the juice processing factory in Soroti, but if we don’t find solutions to the continued pests and disease attacks, it might not get sufficient supplies of oranges to meet the installed processing capacity,” said Kiggundu.

He was optimistic that the project will yield good results as they have planned to camp in the three districts and work with the farmers in the process of collecting the required information about the different pests and diseases.

KOPIA’s director, Dr. Jee Hyeong-Jin explained that their activities in Uganda are funded by the Rural Development Administration (RDA), South Korea’s research and extension body.

“RDA is willing to commit more resources as long as there is dedicated cooperation between the two countries,” explained Jee.

He noted that his organisation had also partnered with the National Genetic Resources Centre and Data Bank to conduct research aimed at developing protocols to preserve the Ankole bull semen.

“We are also engaged in the developing of the national soil and climate information system to enhance agricultural planning in Uganda,” noted Jee.

He pointed out that they had registered great strides regarding the earlier projects including evaluation and promotion of vegetables cultivation under low input production techniques.

Kawanda’s director Dr. Wilberforce Tushemereirwe cautioned his technical staff against scattering resources, advising that they need to concentrate their efforts in particular areas to increase citrus production in the country.

“Uganda has better soils compared to South Korea but there is a very huge disparity concerning the production levels. It’s good we have them (South Koreans) with us in Uganda. I urge you to utilise them optimally such that we don’t just focus on controlling diseases, but also increasing production,” said Tushemereirwe.

Farmers expressed gratitude over the new project saying pests and disease attacks are some of the reasons why they have not opened up more land for commercial production.

“We want solutions to all our agricultural undertakings. We are poor and yet our crops are attacked by pests and diseases. It is my prayer that such challenges be addressed under this arrangement,” explained Ezekiel Eituno, one of the successful citrus fruit farmers in Soroti district.