NARO seeks Shs. 300 billion as parliament maintains stand on GMOs

Dr Swidiq Mugerwa, the NARO Deputy Director General Research and Coordination said on Thursday that although they need about Shs 500 billion to operate optimally; they would be happy with only Shs. 300 billion.

Yet the funding allocation for NARO currently stands at only Shs. 166 billion which according to Mugerwa, is much lower than the recommended funding rate for agricultural research for African countries.

According to the 2003 Maputo Declaration, African countries are supposed to inject at least 1% of their national budgets into agricultural research.

“Today, our national budget is about Shs. 52 Trillion. 1% of that would be about Shs. 520 billion. But our funding now stands at 166 billion which is about 0.3%,” Mugerwa said.

“There is no way we can sustain this generation with innovation and cutting edge technologies and innovations without proper funding.”

NARO on Thursday hosted members of parliament led by Deputy House Speaker Thomas Tayebwa at an exhibition at their research institute in Namulonge.

The MPs toured the organization's different facilities and the staff exhibited some of their latest innovations and technologies 

Among some of the innovations that impressed the legislators was the new Aflasafe which is used to prevent aflatoxins in grains, as well as a new anti-tick vaccine, which has proved very effective over the past year.

Dr William Alaho Mukani, the NARO Governing Council Chairman also reechoed Mugerwa’s call for better funding from the government.

This extra funding he said would go a long way in plugging the staffing shortages they are facing and developing more innovations.

Deputy Speaker Tayebwa in his speech expressed parliament’s readiness to provide NARO with the Shs 300 billion as long as they are ready to justify its expenditure.

Tayebwa on the other hand advised NARO to focus more commercialization of their innovations to be able to raise more funds of their own.

“In the year 2021/22, you raised nontax revenue of Shs. 3.079 billion. But with what you have here if you gave it to me I would give you hundreds of billions,” said Tayebwa 

Therefore, the next proposal you bring to us must focus on commercialization. You have done a lot of research but it’s sleeping in your labs. Even if you reduce research and focus on commercialization, you alone can raise at least 100 billion,he said.

Meanwhile, Hon Tayebwa rejected a request by NATO to expedite the passing of the stalled Biotechnology Biosafety Bill of 2012, which among others seeks to operationalize and regulate GMO technology in Uganda.

“This bill has been pushed up and down; there are people who think they know science more than us and they are confusing the whole country,” decried Dr Mukani at the event.

“But we need the law to be able to regulate the use of GMOs. People need to listen to the scientists so we are property advise the government.”

Tayebwa however, informed NARO that the bill in its current form, cannot have support in Parliament.

“We believe that there is a lot we can do for the country before considering going to GMOs,” Tayebwa said.

“We have not provided extension workers, we have not provided irrigation, or even supported research on genetic improvement. If we can first focus on this it can push us for the next 50 years; then we can think of engineering.”

On his part, Agriculture Minister Frank Tumwebaze commended Parliament for the support it has rendered to NARO so far.

Tumwebaze revealed that President Yoweri Museveni will be visiting the Namulonge facility to see for himself what scientists are doing to bolster Uganda’s food security.