India and Uganda To Jointly Develop New Cotton Seed Variety

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India and Uganda signed an agreement to jointly develop new cotton seed variety.

In order to help the cotton farmers of both the countries to increase their income, the Cotton Development and Research Association (CDRA) of Southern India Mills’ Association and Cotton Development Organisation and National Agricultural Research Organisation of Uganda agreed to develop new cotton seed variety.
The collaborative project will be for a period of 18 months.
There will be an exchange of technology between the two countries.
The aim is to develop a seed variety that will give higher yield and ginning outturn.

The farmers in Uganda grow 100% organic cotton and it has higher ginning out capacity compared to Indian cotton.
But, the yield from seed varieties developed by CDRA is higher than the Ugandan cotton.
Now, with the collaborative project, scientists from the three organisations will work on developing new seed varieties.
These seeds will be tested both in India and Uganda.
The two countries have similar climatic conditions.
The goal of the project is to develop a long-staple cotton seed variety that will increase the income of Ugandan farmers.

The bilateral relations between India and Uganda are steady over the years.
Ever since the independence of Uganda, the relations between both the countries were good except during the period of Idi Amin.
Indian origin people play a key role in the economic and commercial activities of Uganda.
Though they constitute only 1% of the population, they account for 65% of government revenues in the form of taxes.
Many largest firms in Uganda are run by people of Indian Origin.
India has been providing training courses for scientists and professionals from Uganda since the1960s through the Indian Technical and Economic Co-operation (ITEC) scheme and Indian Council of Cultural Relations’ (ICCR’s) vocational and non-vocational schemes.
After the India-Africa Forum summits held in New Delhi and Addis Ababa, India established three institutions in Uganda – India-Africa Institute of Foreign Trade, a Material Testing Laboratory and the Food Processing Business Incubation Centre.
The country is also a part of the Pan-African e-Network Project, an Indian initiative that provides access to telemedicine and tele-education.
In 2018, the Prime Minister of India visited Uganda for a bilateral meeting after a gap of 21 years marking an upswing in the relations.
During the visit, two lines of credit were announced by India.
Overall, the relations between the two countries are stable and both countries collaborate at international fora to put forth a joint agenda.