Shs56 billion for cassava research

Uganda is to receive $30 million about (Shs56.340 billion) from the World Bank to strengthen agricultural productivity and growth.

Kampala
Uganda is to receive $30 million about (Shs56.340 billion) from the World Bank to strengthen agricultural productivity and growth.

The money will specifically be spent on research into the improvement of the cassava crop.
The Executive Board of the World Bank, which approved the loan in Washington DC last week, said the project would complement agricultural investment programmes currently implemented in Uganda and supported by International Development Association credit (IDA).

Uganda is the fourth country after Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania to receive the support under the first phase of the Eastern Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (EAAPP).

Earlier in June, the World Bank approved $90 million (about Shs180 billion) for the four countries to scale up regional cooperation in generation of technology, training, and dissemination programmes for the region’s prioritised commodities.

Agriculture remains an important sector in Uganda’s development and Cassava is among the staple food crops in the country.

Lead sector
“Agriculture accounts for 25 percent of the Gross Domestic Product in Uganda and remains the backbone for manufacturing and export growth, providing income and employment to over 70 per cent of the population,” World Bank Country Manager, Ms Kundhavi Kadiresan told Daily Monitor.

“It is therefore important to improve the agricultural technology systems in order to deliver benefits to food security in the short run and also boost longer term economic growth.”
Under the EAAPP, a Regional Centre of Excellence for cassava will be established at Uganda’s Namulonge Research Institute, with similar efforts in the other countries focusing on rice, wheat, and dairy as priority commodities identified by the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA).

Partnerships
“Together with Tanzania, Ethiopia and Kenya, and with the facilitation of ASARECA, Uganda will develop and lead joint programmes geared toward improving the productivity and profitability of cassava production and processing,” said Mr John Murray McIntire, World Bank Country Director for Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi.

The agricultural sector, national output from cash and food crops, livestock, and forestry and fishing activities grew by 2.6 per cent in the Financial Year 2008/09 compared to 2007/08’s 1.3.