Muni University in the West Nile region has won the inaugural Innovation Lab for Horticulture Project.

The three-year Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Horticulture project worth sh1.39b is funded by U.S Agency for International Development (USAID) through International Center for Evaluation and Development (ICED) based in Nairobi Kenya.

Muni University beat off competitions from other universities in  Uganda and East Africa to secure one of the three slots to implement the inaugural project.

The inception meeting for the project aimed at development of innovative Horticulture technologies for improved income and livelihood among small-scale women farmers in Uganda was held at Muni University on Thursday.

Dr. Peninnah Nyumbia, the Regional Coordinator for Feed the Future Innovation Lab from the International Center for Evaluation and Development

 Dr. Penninah Yumbya, the regional coordinator for Feed the Future Innovation Lab from International Center for Evaluation and Development says, the selection process was competitive after receiving over 50 proposals from different researchers across the East African region universities.

According to her, the project aimed to address the local challenges faced by local horticultural farmers, a reason local research was considered.

Meanwhile, Prof. Robert Ajobe,the principal Investigator for the project and director graduate training and Innovation Muni University is optimistic that their expertise in research and innovation  as a university will help the project address the challenges of small-scale horticultural farmers and improve their livelihood in the region for both refugees and host communities.

Prof. Robert Ajobe,the principal Investigator for the project and director graduate training and innovation Muni University

The vice chancellor Muni University Assoc. Prof. Simon Anguma Katrini says that the project is in line with the core mandate of the university of promoting research and innovation saying this will help to address the known community challenges of not profiting from the horticultural crop production in the region.