Participants at Breakfast meeting on climate resilient agriculture held at Protea Hotel, Kampala
The Director Environment and Wetlands, Ministry of Water and Environment, Mr. Paul Mafabi has asked the private sector to collaborate and utilise the Climate Change Resource Centre to get the required information to address the effects of climate change.
Mafabi also raised the need for robust Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in fighting the negative impacts of climate on agriculture. He was speaking at the breakfast meeting on climate resilient agriculture held on February 4, 2016 in Kampala.
Research findings presented at the meeting on “how domestic private sector investments support climate risk management a long agricultural value chains in Uganda”, revealed that climate hazards affect the entire value chain of crops, such as rice.
The research conducted by Dr. Annette Kutesa, a Research fellow at EPRC; Julie Dekens and Angie Daze from the International Institute of Sustainable Development showed that climatic conditions affect the entire rice chain from inputs, production, processing, marketing and consumption.
This leads to poor quality and low rice yields, which in turn, affects the realisation of the national rice development strategy 2008-2018. The strategy aims at doubling production and ensuring availability of high quality rice on the market by 2018.
Dr. Sarah Ssewanyana, the Executive Director EPRC, told participants at the meeting that achieving the national rice strategy requires huge private sector support (PPPs), to make long term integrated investment decisions.
Richard Sendege Mubiru a senior research officer with parliament tasked the Uganda Seed Traders Association and other agro dealers to lobby the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) to expedite approval of the draft regulations on climate change.
Sendege also urged for the inclusion of climate change issues into the Private Public Partnership Act. He said this would enable stakeholders to realise the need to combat losses arising from vagaries of weather such as floods and prolonged drought. He blamed the poor performance of agriculture on lack of enough resilient seed varieties and poor communication of climate issues to farmers who endure the adverse effects of climate change.
Read the event proceedings report and watch a short video of the proceedings via the thumbnail below: