FAO AGROVOC welcomes Makerere University as a new member of its Community of Editors

FAO is pleased to announce a new collaboration on AGROVOC with the Makerere University, one of the oldest universities in Africa based in Uganda.  For many years, Makerere University has actively promoted programmes such as AGORA and AGRIS, in Uganda and in the region.

Since 2018, AGROVOC has been expanding its coverage through collaboration with communities of experts to include specialized domains that benefit from AGROVOC. Makerere University will be the first institution from sub-Saharan Africa to be part of the AGROVOC Community of Editors. FAO is engaging with Makerere University to consolidate an institutional focal point for Swahili and promote the use of AGROVOC in regional and national Least Developed Country (LDC)s languages. 

Mr. Onan Mulumba, the coordinator responsible for the collaboration between FAO and Makerere University says:

The collaboration will help to enhance the awareness and usage of AGROVOC at the university and other institutions where Swahili language is used in pursuing scientific research.

FAO welcomes collaboration proposals from other institutions in LDCs interested in expanding AGROVOC coverage in their languages. Multilinguality is still a significant barrier to the global transfer of scientific knowledge, and tools like AGROVOC help to build bridges between datasets and unlock knowledge. Terminology across languages has also become a valuable instrument for data to be classified homogeneously, facilitating interoperability and reuse in information systems.