Buganda Kingdom Premier (Katikkiro) Charles Peter Mayiga has encouraged farmers to adopt new agricultural technologies to enhance their livelihoods. Speaking at Kituuza Village in Mukono District, where he engaged with experts at the National Coffee Research Institute (Nacori) on January 30, Mr. Mayiga praised Nacori’s contribution to the ‘Emmwaanyi Terimba’ campaign, promoting coffee production in the Buganda Kingdom.
Mr. Mayiga emphasized the importance of value addition in agriculture, particularly in extracting diverse ingredients from coffee beans for use in cosmetics, jewelry, nutritional supplements, and other daily essentials. He highlighted the significance of science in obtaining high-yield coffee varieties that lead to improved incomes for farmers.
Addressing agriculture researchers, Mr. Mayiga appreciated the ongoing research on indigenous birds and animals, urging everyone to embrace new knowledge to enhance agriculture for food security and surplus for sale.
Dr. Yona Baguma, the Director General at the National Agricultural Research Organisation (Naro), assured that the technologies developed by Naro would be made available to the public. He urged the promotion of health programs using Naro technologies, emphasizing the potential of high-nutrient varieties in promoting people’s health.
The collaboration between Buganda Kingdom and Naro, established through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in October the previous year, aims to leverage science to advance agricultural initiatives. Naro’s institutes cover various aspects such as coffee value-addition, livestock, food standards testing, fisheries, vegetables, and poultry.
The partnership seeks to disseminate research findings and promote modern farming methods to benefit Uganda’s farming communities.
