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Govt to test four anti-tick vaccines in December
Livestock dealers in Lwemiyaga cattle market, Sembabule District, on December 20, 2019. The Vice President said the government will focus on reducing post-harvest losses from 40 percent to 30 percent. PHOTO | FILE
Four anti-tick vaccines developed by National Agricultural Research Organisation (Naro) are set to be rolled out for trials in December.
The vaccines are Brown Ear Tick, Blue Tick, Bont Tick, and Cocktail 1,2,3.
“These locally developed vaccines will help government save Shs3.7 trillion in importation of tick-borne vaccines, anti-tick drugs, animals lost due to ticks and extension services provided to address tick disease in livestock from outside countries,” Dr Ambrose Agona, Naro’s director general, said during celebrations to mark International World Food Day at Kawanda Institute at the weekend.
Dr Agona also urged the government to fulfil a pledge that Africa collectively entered into by committing one per cent of respective countries’ budgets to fund agricultural activities.
While reading President Museveni’s speech at the function, Vice President Jessica Alupo said the government has come up with interventions in the agriculture value chain.
“[One] of the planned interventions is implementation of parish equitable model by increasing investment in research and high yielding crops and animals,” she said.
Interventions
Ms Alupo also said the government was in the process of waiving taxes on all agricultural products.
She added that it will also teach farmers to add value to their agricultural produce.
The Vice President said the government will focus on reducing post-harvest losses from 40 percent to 30 percent.
It will also form public private partnerships tailored to ensure that farmers get a fair pricing for their products.
The State Minister for Agriculture, Mr Fred Bwino, said the government is targeting increasing agricultural earnings from agricultural products from $1.7b (about Shs6 trillion) to $4b (Shs14 trillion).
“We will mainly target the international market for our products like coffee and we call the international community to work closely with us in achieving this,” he said.
In July, the Minister of Agriculture and Animal Industry, Lt Col (Rtd) Bright Rwamirama, said Uganda would start to produce its own tick vaccines by mid next year to help the country independently combat the tick resistance among the livestock.
Lt Col Rwamirama noted that the ministry had already instituted a committee of experts to handle the investigation on both livestock and crop production to come up with recommendations.
