By Mulengera Reporters
Uganda will for an eternity be hosting the Regional Genetics Bank (RGB) at one of the NAGRIC livestock farming facilities in Entebbe.
It’s a prestigious center of excellence that will be serving 13 Eastern African countries drawn from EAC and IGAD membership. It’s one of Africa’s only 5 RGBs the other being in Botswana, Burkina Faso, Tunisia and Cameroon.
The funding is from African Union and EU whose financial support went into the construction of the relevant infrastructure at the Entebbe site, the state of art animal genetics labs and also into the training and capacitation of the teams of scientists that will be manning the center.
The AU/EU idea to have these 5 regional centers of excellence derives from the FAO-championed Global Action Plan aimed at leveraging on indigenous animal breeds to ensure sustainable food security and improved nutrition for all citizens of the globe.
The headquarters of the new AU-EU livestock project NAGRIC will be hosting and coordinating for the benefit of 13 EAC and IGAD member countries
This is also in line with the UN-driven Social Development Goals (SDGs) which stress nutrition and food security for all UN member countries.
The 2017 proclamation of the Global Action Plan on conservation of indigenous animal breeds was preceded by wide spread and research-backed fears that indigenous animal breeds were becoming extinct as profit-seeking livestock farmers concentrated on crossbred brand of animals which are perceived to be more productive and higher-yielding.
So, in the case of Africa, the AU leveraged on its Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (IBAR) project to popularize the Global Action Plan. And the AU strategy became one that involves setting up 5 RGBs to coordinate and scientifically facilitate conservation efforts.
According to Pius Wakabi Kasaija, who ordinarily knows much more being the PS for MAAIF where NAGRIC-championed livestock and animal breeding falls, Uganda didn’t get the honor to host the RGB for the IGAD and EAC regions on a silver platter. It was a competitive process as other countries too were interested in hosting the same and cash in on the abundant opportunities that come with hosting such a vital project.
THE BENEFITS
Firstly, it gives the country additional visibility among those involved in the animal genetic development science. It also shows the country’s science regional leadership and of course an endorsement in the political leadership of the country. Peripherally, it also impacts on the country’s tourism and hospitality industry.
For the Friday RGB launching event alone, over 100 loaded foreign dignitaries from AU, IGAD, EAC and the 13 member countries trickled in. And while here for both the launch and the General Assembly that preceded it, they spent dollars here while sleeping in our Entebbe hotels and on the numerous recreation activities they participated in during their long stay in Kampala and Entebbe town.
All these are levers that come with becoming host to such a powerful project. Yet that isn’t all. There are many well-paying jobs young Ugandan scientists are already cashing in on under the RGB project. These will earn good remuneration besides the life-changing training they are continuing to undergo.
It’s for such things that counties don’t easily give way allowing say Uganda to begin hosting such a lucrative scientific research project. During the launching ceremony, three eminent Ugandan leaders gave insights on how and why Uganda was chosen.
These are Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda, Agriculture Minister Vincent Sempijja and Rodha Tumusiime who was serving as AU Commissioner in charge of Agriculture at the time Uganda was chosen ahead of all the other countries that had showed interest in hosting the RGB.
Rugunda (also a livestock farmer with a family dairy farm in Wakiso and has known President Museveni for decades) says the Ugandan leader’s profile and outspokenness on the suitability of the indigenous Ankole cattle must have played a role. Rugunda says Museveni’s track record as a successful livestock farmer simply indicated all the relevant political support would be available to NAGRIC as the RGB project-implementing government agency.
The long-horned Ankole cow, which Museveni is proudly very outspoken about, has wide spread acceptance in many livestock-farming communities in the EAC region and it’s among those whose genes the IGAD/EAC RGB at Entebbe will be preserving and conserving as a matter of priority.
Rugunda says the abundant existence of livestock is another plus for Uganda which is home to 14.3m cattle, 15.3m goats, 4.3m sheep, 4m pigs and 41m chicken. Rugunda says, these being figures of 2017, there is a high likelihood the number has since grown to something much more with cattle stocks now exceeding 15m.
Many of these are indigenous animals whose genes ought to be preserved for many reasons including serving the interests of future generations (posterity).
Minister Sempijja says besides the fact that there is new vibrant leadership that has awakened the giant NAGRIC has always been, a number of other strengths must have influenced the AU Commission leadership in Addis Ababa to favor Uganda as host for the RGB.
One is the fact that NAGRIC has a long-established practice in preserving indigenous animal breeds at it’s already existing gene banks, breeding facilities and state of art labs unlike some of the other EAC/IGAD countries which are yet to have anything in place.
He says NAGRIC has also built vast experiences and expertise in the area of artificial insemination-based breeding programs as a way of expanding on the available livestock breeds to boost business and food security requirements.
In line with its mandate, NAGRIC that began in 2002 deriving from an Act of Parliament, also has lots of gene banking facilities in place already. It also has vast government ranches it’s directly responsible for across the country. It’s something, if well maintained, that similar regional institutions can even be attracted to benchmark upon to grow their own livestock programs.
Sempijja says besides having a very supportive President, who himself is a very outspoken and unrepentant cattle breeder, Uganda is vastly possessed with the relevant human resources and high concentration of the relevant scientists both at NAGRIC and Makerere University’s College of Veterinary Medicine who can be leveraged upon to ensure the RGB is technically well supported to deliver all the desired results.
All in all, Sempijja sees the endorsement of Uganda to host the RGB as an opportunity to expedite the transformation of our livestock agriculture practice from one that is largely subsistence into one that is increasingly modern and monetized. (For comments, call, text or whatsapp us on 0703164755 or email us at mulengera2040@gmail.com).
