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KAMPALA - In an ongoing rationalisation of government agencies by Parliament, the Agricultural Chemicals Control Board has been taken back to the agriculture ministry for better management. 

According to Parliament, there is a continued and growing presence of fake and adulterated agro-inputs on the market.

The chairperson of the Parliament Agriculture Committee, Janet Okori-Moe, said that the board declined the committee’s invitation to discuss the status of the institution, the gesture indicated that they were not committed to carrying out their work.

The board was established in 2007 to control and regulate the manufacture, storage, distribution trade, and importation of agricultural inputs.

The establishment of the board was aimed at providing a policy framework for control and regulation, and registration of agriculture chemicals such as pesticides, fertilizers, growth regulators, wood preservatives, biopesticides, and bio fertilisers, among others.

Okori-Moe, however, added that the above duties are not unique adding that these can still be implemented by the agriculture ministry once it takes over the board.

“The market is flooded with counterfeit agro-inputs which the board has failed to manage because efforts to trace the board's presence in the field to inspect and deal with the unauthorised dealers in agro-inputs space could not be established by the Committee,” Okori-Moe added.

A survey by the Anti counterfeit Network led by lawyer Fred Muwema in 2022 noted that 50% of for example seeds on the market are fake.

While seconding the proposal, trade state minister David Bahati, who represented the agriculture ministers, said the transfer will facilitate effective delivery of services since the board seems to be redundant.

Sleeping sickness mandate met

In the same vein, the Uganda Trypanosomiasis Control Council’s functions have been returned to the ministry because their mandate of eliminating sleeping sickness in Uganda was fulfilled.

The transfer comes shortly after a meeting between the council and the Minister of State for Agriculture in charge of Animal Husbandry on Monday this week, where he launched the Tsetse & Trypanosomiasis Taskforce for the containment of tsetse and trypanosomiasis in the country. 

The 13-member task force comprises scientists that will develop a containment strategy and mobilise resources for the elimination of tsetse flies and trypanosomiasis.