The need for new technologies in farming
One of our readers, Nose Ssemakula, a farmer based in Mawale-Semuto, sent me an email expressing his dissatisfaction with my support for the passing of the Genetic Engineering Regulatory Bill 2018 by Parliament in my column article published two weeks ago, titled “Expectations from the Genetic Bill.”
Ssemakula deserves praise for speaking his mind on a matter concerning agriculture which is a key driver of our economy.
However, many farmers like him could be unaware that on Thursday last week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia high-level African agricultural experts held a meeting to accelerate farmer access to innovations that can sustainably increase food production – as temperatures rise and weather extremes and incurable crop diseases become more common.
The meeting, according to the press release, was hosted by the African Agricultural Technologies Foundation (AATF) and it was mainly a response to a report from the recent Global Climate Talks in Poland indicating that Africa is headed for stressful climatic conditions in the decades ahead.
“In the last few years, farmers in sub-Saharan Africa have seen a sharp rise in severe drought along with the emergence of various plant pests that threaten to kill off the region’s most important food crops,” read the press release.
What scientists are doing through genetic engineering (GE) is to develop crop varieties that are both drought tolerant and pest resistant for farmers to grow. The GE Regulatory Bill serves to regulate the safe application of the technology expected to safeguard crop production in Uganda.
Uganda started the process way back in 2003 with the establishment of the Ayume Commission to determine Uganda’s position on GM foods (source: Uganda National Council for Science and Technology).
In the same year President Museveni commissioned a biotechnology laboratory at Kawanda Agricultural Research Institute.
Since then government has been funding GE research aimed at saving our food crops including banana, cassava, maize, Irish potato, rice, and sweet potato from decimation due to drought and pests.
It has also been training specialised scientists to use biotechnology in transforming agriculture. Passing the Bill was therefore one of the steps taken to address our crop production challenges.
