Uganda can be food basket of the world — Querido

United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) envoy Dr Antonio Querido has hailed Uganda’s agriculture sector, noting that the East African nation has the potential to be a food basket for the world if harnessed well.

Querido made the revelation while speaking during a farewell meeting with civil society and members of academia at Buganda Road in Kampala on Wednesday (April 16).

Querido, a Cape Verde national, is set to leave Uganda for Cameroon as the country’s FAO resident representative after his six-year tenure came to an end this month in Kampala.

“I believe transformation is possible,” he said.

According to him, Uganda should intensify work on conservation of its ecosystem and ensure that the environment is harnessed.

He said that although Uganda has some of the best ecosystems in the world, there are still gaps in conservation — highlighted by the rising environmental degradation and increasing natural calamities such as flooding. 

Querido also urged civil society to “continue amplifying the voice of the poor women, and the youth to have space in the allocation of resources".

'Transformative change'

Agnes Kirabo, the Executive Director of Food Rights Alliance (FRA), noted that FAO under Querido gave the civil society sector a lot of space to engage, especially in protection of food systems.

Food systems are the networks needed to produce and transform food, and ensure it reaches consumers.

“We look forward to that moment when every child shall be able to live to their full potential and ensure that no person shall live a non-dignifying life because of failure to have a meal,” she said.   

Querido also urged civil society to “continue amplifying the voice of the poor women, and the youth to have space in the allocation of resources".

Grace Musimani, general secretary of the Uganda Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services and CEO Annual Agricultural Sector awards organizers, said the departing FAO envoy pushed for awarding people to inspire excellence in the work of future agriculture innovators and entrepreneurs.

He also said FAO helped Uganda in the fight against a number of emergencies, including locusts and recently mango virus, which came from West Africa. He said this was hitting farmers in western Uganda but with support from FAO Uganda was declared free from the virus.

Musimanisaid that thanks to Querido’s leadership, the FAO office in Uganda now has an office with a land title, having had none for over 30 years.

“They have done a lot of transformative change in Karamoja and helped smallholder farmers have a voice,” he said.

Prof Achilleo Kaaya of Makerere University Department of Food Technology and Nutrition, said thanks to support from FAO, “the tide is being turned” in combating aflatoxin contamination.

Chariton Namuwoza, the chief executive officer at National Organic Agricultural Movement of Uganda, thanked Querido for helping support marketing strategy for agriculture in the Parish Development Model (PDM).

Who is Querido?

Querido was appointed as country representative in Uganda in December 2018.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Plant Science-Agronomy from the University of California, Davis, USA; a Master’s Degree in Environmental System Analysis and Monitoring, ITC, Enschede, The Netherlands; and a PhD in Tropical Plant and Soil Science, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, USA.

He started his career in 1993 as a Researcher/Head of Environmental Science Department at the National Institute for Agricultural Research and Development (INIDA), in Praia, Cape Verde.

From 2008 to 2010, he served as Dean of the Science and Technology Department at the University of Cape Verde, Praia. He then joined UNDP in 2010 as Head of the Environmental, Energy and Disaster Prevention Unit, in Cape Verde and later served as Chief Technical Advisor, at the FAO Representation in Angola from 2016.