Bioscience can help Uganda use traditional crops to feed its growing population

ILRI. 2011. Bioscience can help Uganda use traditional crops to feed its growing population. Video. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI.

With a population that has increased five-fold in the last 50 years, Uganda needs to invest in new ways to produce more food from shrinking available land and natural resources. Recently, there has been a move away from maize which is not indigenous to the region and consumes large amounts of water, to local crops such as sorghum and millet that are much less water-hungry. Research into developing new more-productive varieties of these old staples, suggests that biosciences can help Ugandans make use of traditional varieties to feed themselves and make money (Patrick Okori, Bio-Innovate Sorghum and Millets Project Consortium Joint-Principal Investigator in Uganda).