Makerere University has partnered with tea researchers from the National Agriculture Research Organization (NARO) to train tea researchers at Masters and PHD levels.

The aim is to increase expertise in tea research to up production. The training will be conducted jointly with the Aarhus University Denmark.

Officiating as chief guest at the project launch at Makerere University’s Food Science and Technology Department on Tuesday, the Vice Chancellor, Prof Barnabas Nawangwe said that the project is to bridge the tea yield gap in Uganda.

Current production per hectare is two metric tons per year and yet the target of the research is for one harvest of six metric tons of tea per hectare per year.

To increase production, Nawangwe said that it will be done through the development of local solutions that support tea to become resilient to the effects of climate change like drought.

 The local solutions include the identification of climate-resilient tea varieties, integrating nitrogen fixing trees in coffee plantations, water harvesting and management practices, among others.

The above solutions will be backed up with capacity building by the University that will train five PHD and five Masters holders to specifically work on tea. 

“I am informed that tea is a widely consumed and one of the oldest beverages in the world, ranked second after water and in Uganda, tea is the second-largest export crop after coffee. Therefore, research that is aiming at improving tea production is welcome in the country,” Nawangwe said.

Termed the Nature-based Solutions for Climate-Resilient Tea Production (NbS4Tea), the five-year project that kicked off in 2023, is funded by Denmark, to the tune of $1.4million, (about sh53.3b), according to Dr Emmanuel Arthur, the Project Principal Investigator, based at Aarhus University-Denmark.

“This project is looking at us having a locally based solution to increasing production because the yields are low, quality is low but also farmers are tired of buying fertilisers,” Emmanuel Arthur said.

To make it work, Arthur said that the team will engage consumers, and traders to know their preferences and what the market demands are to develop tea products that can withstand the changing climate but also fit the demands of consumers and traders

He also added that selected students will have to study from Denmark for half a year and then the other half year of training will be conducted in Uganda.

Commenting on the development, the Deputy director of NARO in charge of technology promotion, Sadik Kassim, said that the project will increase the expertise in tea research through capacity building but also ensure that quality planting materials are in place.