Bilateral Meeting with The Honourable Raphael Magyezi, Minister for Local Government, and The Honourable Rwamirama Bright Kanyontore, Minister of State for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries of the Republic of Uganda

Entebbe - The FAO Director-General met with The Honourable Raphael Magyezi, Minister for Local Government and The Honourable Rwamirama Bright Kanyontore, Minister of State for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries of the Republic of Uganda in Entebbe during an official visit to the country.

Minister Magyezi, on behalf of the Prime Minister, welcomed the Director-General and stated that the visit’s timing was pivotal as Uganda was facing many challenges and FAO had provided indispensable support on issues related to urban development and resilience under the Green Cities Initiative, agrifood systems transformation, and climate change mitigation and resilience, among others.

The Minister expressed the need for ongoing support from FAO for resource mobilization to address the impacts of the climate crisis and other resilience initiatives. He further requested support for women empowerment initiatives and capacity building for rural women in value chain development, youth skills and development through agro-processing for youth and agro-industrialization to increase income generation for youth.

Minister Kanyontore also welcomed the Director-General and thanked him for visiting Uganda to further strengthen their historic collaboration. The Minister further appreciated the commitment, support and work of the FAO country office, especially in pest and animal disease control, particularly Foot and Mouth Disease and stated that the country was almost free of the disease.

The Minister further indicated that the country was reducing imports of vegetable oil by 40% in partnership with FAO and appreciated FAO’s efforts to assist the country to reduce hunger through various projects and for the transformation of the country’s agrifood system. In particular, the Minister referred to the development of the value chain for coffee, milk and dairy processing, and feed processing, working through the FAO Hand-in-Hand Initiative. The Minister further requested FAO’s support with efforts for environment and land preservation and reclamation through climate smart agriculture, and in addressing pastoralism practices for sustainable practices.

The Director-General thanked the Ministers for the warm welcome and congratulated the country for the agricultural development efforts achieved through the fruitful partnership between FAO and Uganda. He indicated that the country’s visible agricultural development and growth indicated economic growth and improvement in the lives of rural people. He reaffirmed FAO’schangestment to continue to provide technical support and expertise to assist with agriculture policy change to transform its agrifood system and make Uganda’s products more marketable, as well as to develop high value products and to further develop value chains.