Success achieved by collaboration in clearing the floating island at the Nalubale Power Station.

Jinja, 23rd April 2020. The joint team of experts from line Ministries including the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries has achieved success in clearing the floating island at the Nalubale Power Station.

The same collaboration is being used to handle other floating islands moving on Lake Victoria.

Hon. Vincent Bamulangaki Sempijja the Minister for Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries has further reassured the public to keep calm as operations to clear the islands are undertaken.

The floating islands are being handled through multi-sectoral collaboration to which the Ministry of Agriculture, is providing the equipment for clearing the islands. This includes:

Three Long arm excavators, Two Barges, One Ferry, One Hydraulic crane, Three self-loading trucks, Four Dump trucks (20ton) and One Bulldozer for clearing the staging area.

The Ministry is working closely with the Ministry of Works and Transport and the Ministry of Water and Environment as well the Ministry of Energy and Agencies including the Uganda National Roads Authority and National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) through the National Fisheries Research Institute.

A video of some of the other recently-sighted floating chunks as reported by the surveillance team is available here : https://web.facebook.com/MAAIFUganda/videos/226607232092026/

Notes for editors

About the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF)

The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries is a Ministry in the Government of Uganda charged with creating an enabling environment in the Agricultural Sector.

The Ministry formulates, reviews and implement national policies, plans, strategies, regulations and standards and enforce laws, regulations and standards along the value chain of crops, livestock and fisheries.

Vision: A competitive, profitable and sustainable agricultural sector.

Mission: To transform subsistence farming to commercial agriculture.

Strategic Objectives

• To initiate the formulation and review of the policy and legal framework for the sector
• To establish and implement systems for service provision in the sector
• To strengthen and implement strategies, regulatory framework, standards, institutional structures and infrastructure for quality assurance and increased quantities of agricultural products to access and sustain local, regional and export markets
• To design and implement sustainable capacity building programmes for stakeholders in the agricultural sector through training, re-tooling, infrastructure, provision of logistics and ICT
• To develop strategies for sustainable food security
• To develop appropriate agricultural technologies for improved agricultural production, productivity and value addition through research
• To develop effective collaborative mechanisms with affiliated institutions and
• To take lead and establish a system and institutional framework for agricultural data collection, analyses, storage and dissemination to stakeholders including Uganda Bureau of Statistics.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) is made up of four Directorates including the Directorate of Crop Resources, Directorate of Animal Resources, Directorate of Agricultural Extension Services and the Directorate of Fisheries Resources each with Departments, Divisions and Partnership Projects.

The Departments of the Ministry which do not fall directly in the above include the Department of Agricultural Planning and Development, the Human Resource Department, the Department of Finance and Administration and the Department of Agricultural Infrastructure, Mechanisation and Water for Agricultural Production.

The Ministry is also made up of seven Agencies including the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO), the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS), Cotton Development Organisation (CDO), Dairy Development Authority (DDA), Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) and Coordinating Office for the Control of Trypanosomiasis in Uganda (COCTU) and the National Animal Genetic Resources Centre and Databank (NAGRC&DB).