The Minister of State for Animal Industry Bright Rwamirama has today launched the state-of-the-art heavy-duty animal feed production, harvesting and manufacturing machinery at NAGRC&DB’s Entebbe-based livestock experimental station (LES ).
The machines include heavy-duty agriculture tractors, tipper trailers(10-tonne) capacity, heavy-duty primary disc harrows, heavy-duty secondary disc harrows, heavy-duty precision low planters, long-range boom sprayers, forage harvesters, poultry haulage trucks, animal feed distribution trucks, and animal haulage trucks among others.
Uganda currently faces a growing high demand for quality pasture and value-added animal feed. This demand is fueled by a growing population that majorly depends on livestock as a source of food and income.
The new machinery comes as a stitch in time when the agency is implementing the presidential directive on Food and animal feed security. In 2022, the cabinet tasked NAGRC&DB with boosting the production of maize and soybeans using 30,000 acres of land that makes up a fraction of the agency’s land.
However according to the agency’s management, , among the key challenges they have been previously grappling with is hiring expensive machinery to use in bush clearing which has always been costly especially during rainy seasons.
Government through its various programs such as the Parish Development Model, envisions having a competitive, productive, and sustainable agriculture sector through agricultural commercialization.
NAGRC&DB management hopes that with the help of the launched modern machinery, the agency will be able to leverage modern agricultural technologies over traditional means that will assist it in value addition and boosting production of animal feed benefiting not only the agency’s farms and ranches but also the neighboring communities.
Through consistent and sustainable agriculture innovation and mechanization, the government will be making agriculture more attractive to youth that make up the majority of Uganda’s population making them key players under the Parish Development Model.
As a government agency charged with livestock development and breeding activities, NAGRC operates fifteen regionally distributed center farms and ranches, including Rubona Stock Farm in Bunyangabu, Maruzi Ranch in Apac, Aswa Ranch in Pader and Lamwo, Got Apwoyo Ranch in Nwoya, Kasolwe Stock Farm in Kamuli, Njeru Stock Farm in Buikwe, Lusenke Stock Farm in Kayunga, Bulago Stock Farm in Bulambuli, the Livestock Experimentation Station, and the National Bull Stud in Entebbe, Ruhengyere Ranch in Kiruhura, the National Poultry and Piggery Development Centre in Wakiso, Nshaara Ranch in Kiruhura, and Sanga Stock Farm in Kiruhura. Each of these facilities has specific livestock production and breeding objectives aimed at producing superior breeding stock accessible to farming communities at subsidized rates.
The above facilities have been instrumental in the progress of the NRM manifesto as they facilitate the use of AI and other assistant reproductive technologies for better breeding outcomes in communities.
Since genetic improvement can not succeed without animal nutrition, nagrc&db is heavily producing animal feeds (silage, hay and compounded animal feeds) for subsidized access by farmers across the country. To ensure effective adoption of Technologies, Innovations and Management Practices (TIMPs), all the 15 animal breeding centers serve as skilling and training centers designed to equip farmers with all the know-how needed to succeed at whichever livestock enterprise they choose.
