Daily Monitor
Saturday April 03 2021
Summary
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Our long delay to take advantage of technologies aimed at improvements proven to overcome farming challenges such as drought stress, pest and disease epidemics, and malnutrition, could be the major drawback crippling the progress towards national economic development.
Uganda is merely watching as other countries embrace technologies such as biotechnology that are transforming agriculture and earning them huge economic benefits.
Our government through the National Agricultural Research Organisation (Naro) is conducting research aimed at overcoming pests and diseases that are wiping out crops such as banana, cassava, sweet potato, Irish potato among others.
Naro is also doing research on some crops to overcome drought stress and malnutrition through biotechnology. Our cotton production lags behind due to pests that have been overcome in other countries including neighbouring Kenya which is already growing Bt cotton