Uganda, November 2022

COURSE REPORT 

NaCRRI Training unit, UGANDA

1. Background

In 2011, Uganda constructed the Center of Excellence (CoE) for rice, the regional rice research and training center (RRRTC) within National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI) with support from the Japanese government. Since then, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), one of the supporting partners of the CARD, has continued to support the center in the form of Technical Assistance, closely working with researchers and technicians at NaCRRI and local governments under the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF).

MAAIF, the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO), and JICA are implementing the second phase of the Promotion of Rice Development Project (PRiDe II) to support the rice industry development in Uganda. This phase commenced in April 2019 as a five-year technical cooperation project of JICA. The Project has held a series of training courses for rice cultivation for participants from various parts of Uganda and other African countries by taking advantage of RRRTC. Based on this, PRiDe II is able to continuously provide training courses on rice production for farmers, extension officers, and researchers from African countries, as a part of its contribution to attaining the CARD target of re-doubling rice production in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030.

PRiDe II in collaboration with NaCRRI Training Unit (NTU), composed of researchers, technicians, and JICA/PRiDe II experts, hosted the second CARD regional Training of Trainers from the 21^st to 25^th November 2022. This training course aims to share experience and knowledge on the rice cultivation technologies developed and accumulated so far, under the PRiDe project in collaboration with MAAIF and NARO.

1.1     Objective of the training;
1. Strengthen participants’ knowledge on basic knowledge and skills on rice cultivation,

• Obtain necessary knowledge and skills for conducting Training of Farmers and simple experiments at demonstration sites.

2. Share the rice extension activities under the PRiDe II project,

• Engage in deep discussion on the MFS approach.
• Share experiences of Ugandan rice farmers

3. Strengthen collaboration among African countries to boost food security through increased rice production and productivity.

• Explore cultivation trends in Uganda in relation to other African Countries,
• Understand the operational approaches of PRiDe II, designed to achieve increased rice production and productivity.

1.2     Participants

The group consisted of participants from 9 (nine) CARD member countries; Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Mozambique, Liberia, and Tanzania. The group had 14 agricultural extension officers and 6 researchers together with a JICA Program officer of Agriculture and Rural Development Sector from JICA Ethiopia Office, making a total of 21 participants who attended the training.

2. Program

The training course aimed at capacity building of CARD member countries’ extension officers and researchers. The five-day program started on 21^st November 2022 and covered topics ranging from theory to practical hands-on training. The training contents encompassed all necessary aspects of rice cultivation including agronomic practices. The workshop was also organized to exchange experiences and challenges on rice extension approaches in each country and to discuss to seek solutions to those challenges. The training program included field visits to the PRiDe II project’s demonstration sites and farmers’ fields as well, in the last 2 days.

The Trainees actively participated in each program and were eager to learn new/improved knowledge and skills for effective and efficient rice cultivation.

In hands-on activities, they practiced both Upland and Lowland rice cultivation skills such as line planting, moderate seed sowing, paddy field making creating bunds for water management, nursery bed seeding, and transplanting, respectively. These practical experiences in the field helped them to obtain new/improved skills effectively so that participants are able to implement skills and train farmers in their respective duty sites confidently.

A field visit to one of the PRiDe II project’s Musomesa Field Schools (MFS) was organized to observe how the extension approach works in the field. “Musomesa” means teacher in local language in Uganda. Participants traveled to the eastern region of Uganda in Bugiri and Butaleja districts to interact with some of the rice farmers trained by the PRiDe II Project. The participants had a great opportunity to ask questions to farmers to know their experiences and benefits of new/improved rice cultivation technologies which they adopted in their fields.

The training presented a platform for experience sharing on rice production technology and understanding the benefits of new/improved techniques. Through this training course, the participants built a significant relationship beyond countries. It will encourage them to accelerate rice production activities in their countries.

3. Pictorial of activities

22nd November 2022	22nd November 2022
Training hall, NaCRRI	Paddy field, NaCRRI
Mr. Emmanuel Bayega, NaCRRI training unit staff giving a lecture of lowland rice cultivation	Mr. Anguzu Naphtal, NaCRRI training unit staff teaching how to transplant in appropriate spacing.

21st November 2022	23rd November 2022
Upland field, NaCRRI	Paddy field, NaCRRI
Hands-on practice of line planting	Hands-on practice of threshing

24th November 2022	25th November 2022
Bugiri district, Musomesa Farmers’ Field	Butaleja district, Musomesa Farmers’ Field
A farmer who attended MFS (2nd from right) introducing how improved rice productivity through MFS	The group photo of participants from 9 CARD member countries