Commissioner of Processing and Marketing Dr. Joshua Mutambi launching the project activitiesMakerere University on 6th February 2020 launched Public-Private-Academia partnership project on empowering the agro-processing Industry to meet the quantity and quality for local and Export Market; a programme focusing on enhancing the practical skills of students in Makerere University.
The project funded under the Research and Innovation Fund (RIF) estimated at UGX 223 million, is in line with the efforts of the Ugandan Government to support Research and Innovation in unfunded priorities critical to accelerating development across different sectors of the economy in Uganda.
While officially opening the project, Commissioner of Processing and Marketing from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives Dr Joshua Mutambi commended the use of the Triple helix partnership model in the project(the interaction between Academia-Industry-Government) that has been seen to catalyze phenomenal economic growth in other countries.
In this project, the university has partnered with the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) and the Uganda Export Promotion Board (UEPB). Together they will train practitioners in 40 Agro-processing MSMEs in skills that enable them to develop processes leading to quality products that meet standards for certification as well as the ability to meet the capacity required for the local and export markets
In the Financial Year (2019/2020), the University received funding under RIF to complement available research funding. The RIF secretariat received over 700 proposals and 222 were awarded across the different Colleges for the RIF Round one Funding.
Makerere's College of Agriculture got about 14% of the awards and Dr Julia Kigozi the Principal Investigator leading this project was one of the successful applicants.
According to RIF, the second-round call for application is on this February 2020 and the secretariat is working on a strategy that will guide the research agenda at the university.
Photo courtesy / Makerere
Article by RB correspondent
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