On Wednesday, 6th March 2019, I represented the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe at the launch of the multi-institutional research projects funded by the African Union Commission through the African Union Research Grants with support from the European Commission. Makerere won four of the ten projects funded by the African Commission and will implement the grants in collaboration with University of Eduardo Mondlane Mozambique; and University of Zambia.

We congratulate the Principal Investigators (PIs) including:

i. Prof. Jessica Nakavuma – College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Biosecurity (CoVAB): Development of bacteriophage cocktails as disease biocontrol agents for improved aquaculture productivity, food and nutrition safety in Uganda and Ghana
ii. Prof. Donald Kugonza – College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES): Marker-assisted breeding of native chickens in Uganda and Mozambique
iii. Mak as a partner: Aflatoxin contamination among Maize and Groundnut value chains in Zambia and Uganda
iv. Dr. Jackson Efitre – Department of Zoology, College of Natural Sciences (CoNAS)

We thank our scientists who worked tirelessly to develop quality proposals that are a reflection of our drive to research excellence. It is gratifying to see our Faculty deploy their vast research capacity in Science, Technology and Innovations to solve the challenges bedevilling the agricultural sector and ultimately reduce hunger and improve the wellbeing of our people. I was overjoyed to know that our multi-institutional projects’ focus on – food, nutrition security, sustainable agriculture, is reflection of a new paradigm of Mak research agenda aimed at optimizing our relevance and contribution towards SGD 1: No poverty and 2: Zero hunger by 2030.

The kick-off meeting yesterday was attended by scientists from over 15 RUFORUM member institutions in Africa that have all demonstrated research excellence in fisheries, aflatoxin management and breeding of local chicken. From my own assessment, I could predict that the
implementation of these projects will not be a challenge because, at Makerere we have the Fisheries research centre at the College of Natural Sciences (CoNAS) and the College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Biosecurity (CoVAB) as well as a great team of Professors in these two colleges who will ensure success of the fisheries project.

Our Food Technology and Business Incubation Centre (FTBIC) has done significant research in Aflatoxins and will be of great benefit for the Aflotoxin research project and through the School of Agricultural Sciences has done significant research in Poultry breeding. All these human and physical endowments will in no doubt contribute significantly to the scientific success of the local chicken breeding project.

Evidently, Food, nutrition security and sustainable agriculture has been areas of focus of training and research at Makerere University and we are grateful to be provided with this opportunity to deploy our expertise to make a difference in our countries and continent at large through scientific research.

Our great respect goes to the RUFORUM Network through the Executive Secretary, Prof. Adipala Ekwamu, for mobilizing African universities to team up and develop quality research projects. This affirms Makerere's research leadership on the continent. We congratulate all the successful PIs.

Article by Professor Buyinza Mukadasi, Director, DRGT, Makerere University