Dr. Yona Baguma, Director General, who assumed office in May 2023, took time away on his very first monitoring support visit to three institutes in Fortportal, Kabale and Kawanda. The selected institutes had one very special thing in common: they all had newly appointed Directors of Research, who took office on August 1, 2023.

He personally went with the new directors to their respective institutes to introduce them to the teams they were to work with, interact with staff, and monitor the research work and infrastructure in these institutes.

The DG initially visited the Rwebitaba Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute (ZARDI), Fort Portal, then the Kabale Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute (KaZARDI), and finally the National Agricultural Research Laboratories (NARL). The DG and the new Directors of Research were accompanied to their new postings by a delegation from the NARO secretariat. This team included the Dr. Sadik Kassim -Deputy Director General, Technology Promotion, Robert Bagonza-Director of Human Resource, Violet Nakaweesi- council Secretary and Christine Elong-Public Relations Officer.

The host directors and staff welcomed the visiting team and provided the DG a guided tour of the facilities and an overview of the research being conducted in these institutes. Through these interactions, the DG had the opportunity to observe and learn firsthand about the nature of the work being done as well as the condition of the facilities and structures within the institutes.

In Rwebitaba ZARDI, the team toured the tea, banana, beans, maize, goat breeding facility, and Hass Avocado plantation. In Kabale ZARDI, the team had a side exhibition of all the technologies being promoted by the institute in the Kigezi subregion; these include potatoes, millet, sorghum, grapes, and apples. In NARL, the team toured the facilities within the institute that include tissue culture laboratories, the soil’s mapping facility, and the food and agribusiness laboratory.

After all the field visits, the DG later held meetings with all the staff from each of these institutes, where he spoke about the need to work with a mission in mind, which is NARO’s business of innovating for sustainable agricultural transformation. The key messages that the DG communicated with staff in all three institutes centered on:

• The need to work with focus on our mission as an entity, which is to innovate for sustainable agricultural transformation,
• The need to efficiently utilize all the land in the institute
• The need to put in place proper waste management systems
• Team work among the staff.
• An open-door policy in which he will be their chief servant while staff too serve in their different capacities.
• The need to observe and maintain industry standards for all the work being done in the labs.

He also did the novel duty of introducing the new Directors to the teams they are going to lead. He expressed gratitude to the departing directors for holding the fort and the outstanding work produced during their tenure.

The newly appointed Directors of Research to the Public Agricultural Research Institutes are;

• Dr. Titus Alicia who replaces Dr. Robooni Tumuhimbise in Rwebitaba ZARDI
• Dr. Jerome Kubiriba who replaces Dr. Alex Bareyke in Kabale ZARDI
• Dr. Robooni Tumuhimbise who replaces Dr Wilberforce Tushemereirwe NARL