OPINION

Barbra Nambozo

By Barbra Nambozo

On October 16, the National Agriculture Research Organisation (NARO) unveiled new crop seed varieties. This is the day that the country celebrated the World Food Day. The national celebrations were held at one of NARO’s institutes in Kituza, Mukono.

The agriculture minister, Frank Tumwebaze, while presiding over the release of these new crop seed varieties developed by NARO scientists, complimented the researchers for their diligence in developing the varieties.

He also likened the joy experienced by a researcher / breeder, who successfully produces a crop variety approved for release after many months of work in the laboratory and trials, to that of a mother who successfully delivers a healthy baby after nine months of carrying a pregnancy.

But just as a mother is consumed with joy at the successful birth of her baby, so are the father and the mid-wife, among others. As the country celebrates this milestone of the new crop varieties developed by NARO, a special gratitude is extended to the groups of farmers, who participated in hosting the demonstration gardens and all processes, including selection of samples that enabled the development of these crop varieties. Because of these farmers, Ugandans will have more food on their platters, better incomes and improved livelihoods.

Over the years, NARO has released several crop varieties. The majority of these crop varieties are what constitute daily food portions in our homes, hotels, schools. These crop varieties are contributing to food security, increased household incomes and job creation.

NARO’s research efforts give hope to about seven million households in Uganda, who cultivate land or rear livestock, according to a 2020 Uganda Bureau of Statistics annual agricultural survey.

Since the crop varieties are bred for specific key attributes such as high-yield, resistance to known diseases, early maturity (compared to ordinary varieties), there is great hope that these attributes will thrust our food system to a more resilient one to tolerate economic and environmental shocks such as climate change. We need to support innovation and technology adoption in agriculture as a means of fostering economic development, improved health and reducing poverty.

The newly released NARO crop varieties are for maize, rice, sweet potatoes and pasture. Save for the latter, the others are food crops. Pastures are a source of livestock feed; they reduce soil erosion and build soil fertility, which indirectly contribute to well-being of the farming communities.

The NAROBan (bananas) varieties have a yield potential ranging between 54.9t/ha/yr and 68.8t/ha/yr). They are resistant to black sigatoka, tolerant to pests (weevils, nematodes). When a farmer applies good agronomic practices, these bananas maturity period is about 13 months. NARO’s sweet potatoes varieties have a yield potential of more than 36 tons per hectare; they are resistant to different potato diseases and early maturing.

NAROs new rice varieties can yield between 4.5 and 6.5 tonnes per hectare compared to the old varieties that were yielding 1.2 tonnes per hectare. These varieties are early-maturing and aromatic. These can complete favorably with popular commercial rice varieties on the market. Records show that the current country’s production of milled rice is about 350,000 metric tons. This amount is projected to increase to 700,000 tons by 2026.

NARO’s role to realization of this goal cannot be over emphasized. Rice is one of the most important cereal crops in Uganda, and the most trade food commodity across borders in the East African Community region. Smallholder farmers, who participate in producing more than 90% of the rice output in Uganda, face challenges such as use of low-yielding varieties; limited access to improved seed varieties and limited knowledge of good agronomic practices, among others.

NARO and its partners continue to engage smallholder farmers to increase local rice production through training in good agronomic practices and providing critical farm equipment. Efforts as these contribute toward a rice self-sufficiency for Uganda.

To ensure availability and access to quality seed, the majority of the maize and beans varieties developed by NARO scientists have been taken up by various seed companies in Uganda for promotion and farmer uptake. A total of 13 seed companies are now licensed to multiply and sell 77 NARO varieties, including maize, beans, rice, sorghum and millet.

Some of NAROs crop varieties are increasingly being sourced as raw materials in the production lines of industries in Uganda. A good example to relate to in this regard is the Epuripur, one of NARO’s sorghum varieties, released in the 1990s, is now used in the manufacture of bottled beer. Brewers used to import most of their raw materials until they found better and affordable options in NAROs crop varieties that have been widely adopted by farmers in different agro-ecological zones.

The research teams are hailed for their contribution towards the socio-economic transformation of the agriculture sector and the country, however, the responsibility of popularizing these novel crop varieties for adoption, should not be utterly left to the agricultural extension staff. This should be a collective and deliberate effort by all Ugandans. Agricultural extensionists, especially at districts and sub-counties, are often financially challenged.

The majority of farming communities in Uganda are challenged by use of low-yielding varieties; limited access to improved seed varieties and limited knowledge of good agronomic practices, among others. These farmers need to be supported at all levels of the value-chain to improve the quality of their produce.

Adoption of new ideas or innovations among members of any given society is a scientifically proven process. It is often a gradual rather than instant process. Observably, not all the people may start a farming venture next year, after reading this newspaper article.

But if fifty people, who being innovators, read the article and decide to start growing the new maize or sweet potatoes varieties next year and even succeed at it, they will be the motivational and experiential link to the other hundreds to follow suit during the next planting season.

Adoption of new ideas, technologies or even behaviors among a society often spread through the population gradually rather than instantly. Also, we ought to appreciate that different communities are likely to respond differently to new ideas or innovations. Factors such as accessibility, affordability or even familiarity with the new idea may can in play. I believe the first step toward success is availing good quality seed. Kudos to the NARO research team!

Relatedly, getting the early adopters and innovators is equally crucial in promoting these new varieties. These are readily available, considering even members of the farming communities that hosted the research trial gardens, are already enlisted as early adopters. These will be responsible for evangelizing the good news about these new varieties to the late adopters and even the risk-averse laggards.

The writer is a development communication officer with National Agricultural Research Organisation - NaCORI