The minister of agriculture animal industry and Fisheries Hon. Frank Tumwebaze has inaugurated the new governing council of the National Agriculture Research Organisation –NARO.

The 16-member council is to be chaired by William Olaho Mukani with other members including Dr Ambrose Agona the Director General NARO, and Maj Gen David Kasura-Kyomukama the ministry’s permanent secretary among others.

Presiding over the swearing in of the new 16-member Governing council at the ministry offices in Entebbe, Minister Tumwebaze said while NARO is a research organisation, most of its research and the innovations developed do not benefit the ordinary farmers.

He now challenges the new council to ensure that the organisation carries out deliberate and useful research which must be relevant to the farmers and meet their needs.

He cites development of simple affordable irrigation technologies which can be utilised by the farmers amidst the growing vagaries of nature.

Meanwhile the ministry’s permanent Secretary Maj Gen David Kasura-Kyomukama reminded the council that the country has 70 percent of households engaged in agriculture with majority being small holder farmers who produce less than 25% of GDP and less than 50 % of exports.

He says the new council therefore has an opportunity to make a contribution towards transforming the country’s agriculture.

On his part, the new governing council chair Prof William Olaho called for support from the minister and permanent Secretary to enable them deliver on their mandate.

He also emphasised the importance of embracing technology to be able to improve agriculture production amidst growing challenges of climate change and population increase.