BY BEN MOSES ILAKUT KIGALI, RWANDA—"Countries don’t fail because they lack policies to facilitate agricultural productivity and open up access to markets. They fail because they lack strong political will to ensure technologies from research are profitable.” This is one of powerful messages that was delivered during the Private sector Dialogue...
BY BEN MOSES ILAKUT MUSANZE, RWANDA: Farmers in Shingiro in Musanze District, Rwanda are upbeat following an unprecedented bumper harvest of the much-coveted potato varieties Cyerekezo and Ndamira. During the first week of June 2025, the farmers, most of them members of Dukomeze Ubuzima Cooperative facilitated by ASARECA, Seed Potato Fund-Ikigega...
BY BEN MOSES ILAKUT ENTEBBE, UGANDA—The ASARECA Board of Directors have appointed Dr. Sylvester Dickson Baguma as the Substantive Executive Director of the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA). The full Board of Directors, comprising the Directors General of the National Agricultural Research Institutes (NARIs) of...
BY GENEVIEVE APIO Kampala, Uganda — May 2025 ASARECA continues to play a pivotal role in fostering regional collaboration with CGIAR centers to promote agricultural transformation, resilience, and food security in Eastern and Central Africa. Over the years, ASARECA has built a strong and strategic relationship with CGIAR partners, working together to...
BY BEN MOSES ILAKUT KAMPALA, UGANDA—ASARECA and the National Potato Council of Kenya (NPCK) have formalized their partnership through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), especially to boost the performance of the potato value chain. Strategically witnessed by an Africa-wide audience attending the 13th Triennial African Potato Association (APA) Conference at the Speke...
BY BEN MOSES ILAKUT KAMPALA, UGANDA—The Minister of State, East African Community Affairs for Uganda, Hon. James Magode Ikuya has extolled the value of ASARECA in supporting its 15 Member States in harmonization of policies, guidelines and procedures for sharing Agricultural technologies and facilitating trade in the East African Community and...
BY BEN MOSES ILAKUT KAMPALA, UGANDA—Strong public private partnerships to crowd in dedicated investments into new potato varieties with a focus to commercialize them, aligning national policies to regional and international policies to stimulate market access, promoting a tripartite linkage for Government, the private sector and farmers (including extension services), mainstreaming...
BY BEN MOSES ILAKUT LILONGWE, MALAWI — Commitment to: Domestic resource mobilization at national, Continental regional level; mobilization of women and youth as drivers of extension and advisory services delivery; building and nurturing coalitions; building a critical mass of extension and advisory services providers. These are some of the key demands...
BY BEN MOSES ILAKUT KIGALI, KAMPALA, NAIROBI & ADIS ABABA—In the first half of 2025, ASARECA, in collaboration with ILRI and partner projects including AICCRA and LEG4DEV, convened a series of national consultative workshops in Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Uganda to co-design Climate-Smart Legume Production Guidelines and Manuals. These workshops were...
BY BEN MOSES ILAKUT NAKURU & NAIVASHA, KENYA—ASARECA and Farm Inputs Promotions Africa ( FiPs-Africa) on April 28 to May 1 supplied cuttings of 26,000 farmer preferred potato varieties including Shangi, Unica, and Wanjiku, 200 kgs of fertilizer and assorted pesticides to farmers and stakeholders in Marioshoni, Elbergon in Nakuru County...
