Articles

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://104.225.218.216/handle/123456789/2

This community has research articles in all commodities under NARO mandate in broad areas of crops, forestry, livestock, fisheries, agro -machinery, Natural resources and Socio-economics.

Browse

Browsing Articles by Author "A. Barekye"

Filter results by typing the first few letters
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Challenges and opportunities for quality seed potato availability and production in Uganda
    (Uganda Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 2015-10-05) A.R. Aheisibwe; A. Barekye; P. Namugga; A. A. Byarugaba
    Potato yields in Uganda have remained low at 7.5 t ha-1. This low yield is attributed to low yielding varieties, poor management practices and lack of quality seed potatoes among other factors. This study was conducted to ascertain the challenges and opportunities of quality seed potato availability and production in the southwestern highlands agro-ecological zone (SWHAEZ). A total of 15 farmer groups were randomly selected from a sample size of 200 farmers and individually interviewed. The results of study indicated that high transaction costs (43.5%), lack of clear seed delivery system (40.5%) and limited information on the source of seed (14.0%) were the main constraints limiting farmers’ access to and use of quality seed potato. Up to 93% of the farmers in SWHAEZ use home saved seed from previous harvests and conventional ware potato markets, whose quality is not guaranteed. Although over 70% of the farmers were convinced that quality of seed had a positive effect on yield increase, 72% of them still use poor quality seed often infected by bacterial wilt. In addition, 52% of the farmers lacked specific storage facilities for potato seed; and this further lowered the grade of the seed quality. However, a number of opportunities existed for production and access to quality seed including; various proven technologies for producing quality seed potato and ready demand for potato seed and ware potato. Of the seed potato production technologies, positive selected seed (PSS) seemed to have the highest quantity of seed; while basic seed produced heaviest tubers than the rest of the technologies.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The Performance Of East African Highland Bananas Released In Farmers’ Fields And The Need For Their Further Improvement
    (Acta Hortic., 2016-05-15) J. Kubiriba; R.T. Ssali; A. Barekye; K. Akankwasa; W.K. Tushemereirwe; M. Batte; E.B. Karamura; D. Karamura
    East African highland bananas (AAA, EAHB) form over 80% of the banana cultivars in the Great Lakes region and are a source of food and income for over 40 million in the region. The production of these bananas has been constrained by pests, diseases, soil fertility decline and most recently climate change stresses. Farmers have been managing these problems using cultural practices. These are sometimes effective, such as for Xanthomonas wilt control, but can also be very demanding. For others, no cultural control practices exist, such as for instance for nematodes in established plantations. The banana research program of the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) in Uganda therefore focuses on the improvement of bananas for pest/disease resistance and fruit quality through conventional and molecular breeding to sustain banana production. In collaboration with the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), the NARO breeding program has developed and officially released a number of banana hybrids to the farming communities, including ‘Kabana 6H’ (syn. ‘M9’) and ‘Kabana 7H’ (syn. ‘M2’). The released and promising hybrids have resistance to black leaf streak and tolerance to nematodes and weevils. Their overall consumer acceptability is not significantly different from that of the landrace local check. The recipient communities value the hybrids since they are being widely distributed through sales and giveaways in addition to recipient farmers expanding their plots. However, these hybrids are susceptible to Xanthomonas wilt, and are very tall and prone to wind damage. There is an opportunity to improve the hybrids for above-mentioned and other traits exploiting Musa’s over 36,000 genes in the sequenced genome.
All rights are reserved for NARO