EU refurbishes testing lab, poultry hatchery worth Shs 340mln

LIRA-The European Union [EU] through Development Initiative for Northern Uganda [DINU] has renovated a dilapidated seed testing laboratory and poultry hatchery worth Shs 340 million at Ngetta Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute [ZARDI] in Lira City.

Both the seed testing laboratory and poultry hatchery project was meant to diversify food system for poverty reduction, food nutrition security, and inclusive development in Lango and Acholi.

Briefing the State Minister for Northern Uganda, Grace Freedom Kwiyucwiny, Dr. Alfred Kumakech, the acting director of Ngetta ZARDI, said the institute carries out research on new crop varieties such as soybeans, maize, cassava, and rice.

“These crops are widely grown by the community for food security and income and in addition to this applied and adapted research, we offer specific services to the farming community. The first service is seed production,” Kumakech explained.

He said the institute is not competing with the local seed businesses but targets a particular seed referred to as early generation seed which is a starter local seed for local seed business.

He added that the local seed business has become the main source of seed because it’s available and affordable.

“Under the NARO-DINU led project, we have been supported with the new seed testing facility which is meant to guarantee the quality of seeds so that the seed we diffuse to the community is pure and of good germination,” he added.

He said the facility trains students from tertiary institutions on quality seed production, which also makes it instrumental in ensuring that they are equipped with adequate knowledge to explain to farmers how to test the quality of seed.

Minister Kwiyucwiny said the sub-region has faced a lot of challenges in getting quality seeds that sometimes germinate but fail to produce quality.

She said the country relies on agriculture and she was happy with what NARO [National Agricultural Research Organisation] is doing to increase production, chase hunger and poverty.

https://thecooperator.news/naro-develops-new-cassava-varieties/

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