Fast-growing, high-yielding fruit orchards are built on the foundation of high-quality seedlings, giving fruit farmers significant returns on their investment quickly. Due to their environmental, financial, and agronomic advantages, Screenhouses with insect-proof or shaded covers are growing in popularity among nursery owners. With funding from the Government of Uganda, NaFORRI is operating an enhanced screenhouse facility to boost multiplication of Hass avocado seedlings.
The screen house has capacity to produce about 1,200,000 seedlings annually and with this production, it will go a long way in enabling farmers’ access to high-quality planting materials. In addition to quality seed, this infrastructure will support research and training activities in appropriate nursery practices and demonstration areas for nursery operators, academics, and other stakeholders.
HASS avocado is rich in protein and mineral content compared to other varieties and is preferred for export due to its size and long shelf-life. It is also immensely used in the cosmetic industry especially in the manufacture of facial and hair oils.
In an effort to promote production of Hass avocado and tap into its health, nutrition, and industrial niche markets, the Government of Uganda and in hindsight NARO have invested in a robust functional infrastructure for massive production of high-quality Hass avocado and value addition at NaFORRI and Mukono Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MuZARDI). The infrastructure is set to enable NARO strengthen capacity to sustainably produce elite true to type Hass avocado seedlings for distributing to farmers and industry. NARO will also provide technical support to farmers through establishment of community-based multi-stakeholder innovation platforms to provide stewardship services to the enterprise.
These initiatives at NaFORRI and MZARDI are also supplemented with a new project under the NARO-Competitive Grant Scheme which aims to improve smallholder farmers’ participation and competitiveness in avocado production and marketing. The project which was officially launched on 21st March 2023 will be implemented in three regions i.e., eastern, central and West Nile. The local, regional and international avocado markets are rapidly expanding, presenting income generation and agro-industrialization opportunities. However, opportunities for many smallholders to benefit from the avocado value chains remain elusive. Smallholder farmers face numerous challenges, including limited access to high-quality planting materials, limited knowledge in combating the prevalent pests and diseases, poor harvesting and post-harvesting technologies, limited value addition options, and limited coordination/organization among smallholder farmers. The Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries in 2021 launched a national campaign for production of Hass avocado. The aim is to tap into its big export market and also maximize its health and nutritive benefits. Hass avocado has a high global demand and was valued at US$12.8bn in 2019 and is expected to rise to US$17.9bn by 2025.