President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has welcomed a proposal for a Regional Farm Service Centre Initiative aimed at addressing challenges in Uganda’s agricultural sector, particularly the growing concern of counterfeit agro inputs.

The President made the remarks during a meeting with a South African delegation led by Mr. Andile Ramaphosa at State Lodge, Nakasero.

The delegation presented a proposal for a tripartite collaboration involving Namunkekera Farm Service Centre, the National Animal Genetic Resources Centre and Data Bank (NAGRC&DB), and Mr. Ramaphosa.

The proposed partnership seeks to establish infrastructure for the profiling, controlled breeding, harvesting, and export of Ankole cattle genetics to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region and other international markets.

“We would like to improve the quality of cattle to be like the ones in South Africa,” Mr. Ramaphosa said.

President Museveni thanked the partners for the initiative, describing it as a positive contribution to the transformation of Uganda’s livestock and agricultural sectors.

“I wish to express my gratitude to these people for awakening from slumber and coming up with ideas that can contribute to the transformation of our agricultural sector,” the President said.

The proposal also includes the establishment of a Build, Operate, and Transfer (B.O.T) laboratory to support quality assurance, regulation, and verification of agricultural inputs as part of efforts to combat counterfeit agro inputs in Uganda.

President Museveni advised the delegation to focus on specific genetic traits when breeding cattle.

“If you want to farm, get a specific gene, they must have characteristics, some are fat, have high value milk and the ones which give good offsprings”, he said.

If implemented, the collaboration is expected to contribute to the growth of Uganda’s livestock industry while strengthening regional trade in Ankole cattle genetics.