The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Mr Elioda Tumwesigye has been calling for a technological transformation in how Africans undertake agricultural production, now the Global Science, Technology and Innovation Conference (G-STIC) 2017 is the perfect stage to front his cause.
Dr Tumwesigye and his ministry’s Permanent Secretary David O.O.Obong are in Brussels, Belgium, for the first in a series of Conferences that bring together key stakeholders from science, technology and innovation communities including the private sector, and provide a forum to review, discuss and identify internationally relevant technological innovations that can lead the world on a more sustainable development course.
The series is hosted jointly by VITO, a Belgian research and technology organization on cleantech and sustainable development and its international partners the Asian Institute of Technology, the Indian Institute of Technology and TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute).
This comes after Uganda took global centre stage by hosting a three-day High-level Conference on the “Application of Science, Technology and Innovation in Harnessing African Agricultural Transformation” at the Speke Resort at Munyonyo where Tumwesigye noted that the challenges facing Africa’s agriculture sector “require the application of science and technology to mitigate the impacts,” He added this was the only way to see a transformation in agriculture.
He says it is time Uganda took a lot more interest in research, particularly within the agricultural sector, noting it is the only way the nation can catch up with other developed countries.
Dr. Tumwesigye noted that Africa was lagging behind the rest of the world in using science and technology because of inadequacies in communicating the role of technology and innovation in agricultural transformation.
