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Uganda has contributed 9.6 million U.S. dollars to a South to South Cooperation tripartite project aimed at boosting agriculture production in the East African country.
Uganda, with support from China and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), will be running the third phase of the agriculture project after the first two phases yielded dramatic results, according to experts.
The money, according to the FAO statement issued here on Thursday, will be put in a Unilateral Trust Fund. The contribution comes in addition to about 2.4 million U.S. dollars contributed by China to the project through the FAO-China South-South Cooperation (SSC) Program Trust Fund.
The financing agreement was signed by Matia Kasaija, Uganda’s Minister of Finance and FAO Representative Antonio Querido.
The project, according to the FAO statement will focus on technology transfer, development of high-yielding schemes for rice and foxtail millet, support for livestock improvement programs and development of the aquaculture value chain.
Querido said the third phase project will improve the lives and livelihoods of farmers and those who depend on them.
The project will benefit 9,600 farmers, 30 percent of whom are women. It will also provide training for 200 technical officers in Uganda and China.
The initial two phases of the project helped to improve technologies used to produce rice, foxtail millet, maize, grapes, apples and cherry tomatoes, as well as animal reproduction including goats, pigs, sheep and in fisheries.
The phases also focused on mechanization, agro-processing and value-addition.
The FAO-China SSC Program was established in 2009 with a 30-million-dollar contribution from China, followed by two further 50-million-dollar pledges in 2014 and 2020 respectively.