The National Animal Genetic Resources Centre and Data Bank (NAGRC&DB) is an agency of the Ministry of Agriculture established by the Animal Breeding Act, 2001 to spearhead animal breeding activities in the country.
Whereas NAGRC&DB is renowned for availing high-quality animal semen and live animals to farmers and farmer groups across the country, the agency has now built the largest National Livestock Gene Bank in East and Central Africa at its headquarters in Entebbe. The state-of-the art facility will support conservation of the country’s indigenous animal genetic resources that are prized for their resilience to tough tropical conditions.
From specialized cryopreservation of select biological materials like animal tissues, embryos, oocytes etc to advanced assessment of field samples, the unveiled National Livestock Gene Bank has immense potential to accelerate the development of highly-productive indigenous animal breeds while retaining their famed resistance to disease and resilience to harsh tropical conditions. “This facility gives us an immense advantage in the region.
We now not only have the appropriate environment for gene banking the region’s indigenous animal genetic resources but also the appropriate laboratories for performing specialized analyses on the same,” remarked the agency’s molecular biologist Dr. Joel Ogwang.
“With this facility, we are now in position to appropriately undertake ex situ conservation of our indigenous animals and also conduct specialized analyses aimed at improving their production over time,” added the agency’s Executive Director.
NAGRC is aiming to not only conserve the country’s indigenous animal genetic resources but also continuously develop these pure local breeds into highly productive animals. “The long-horned Ankole cow has interesting potential for dairy production and we are currently conducting continuous selective breeding of individuals from this group to develop a critical mass of high-milkers,” remarked the Executive Director.
NAGRC&DB has over the years made strong partnerships with similar agencies in most European countries like Germany, France and the Netherlands.
Recently, the Germans installed state of the art DNA sequencing machines that will save the country billions of shillings in specialized foreign laboratory diagnostics.
Last year, a team led by the Animal Industry State Minister Dr Bright Rwamirama visited the world’s leading dairy farms in Chicago, Wisconsin and Michigan States of the USA where they signed several partnership agreements aimed at strengthening NAGRC’s capabilities in advanced animal breeding and conservation.
All this ties in well with the current national budget prioritization where the government has vowed to avail funding for seed and animal breeding stock multiplication for subsidized access by PDM farmers.
During the regional Presidential PDM tours, NAGRC was hailed for its outstanding work in animal feed production on most of its ranches across the country.
It is reported that the agency has continued to give farmers quality animal feeds at affordable prices. “This is the only place where I get a kilo of silage at 300 Uganda Shillings only and a 20 kg bale of hay at 5000 shillings.
For the first time in many years, I did not lose a single cow during this lengthy dry season” remarked George Ssebikali, a zero-grazing dairy farmer in Busaana Kayunga District.
