1. Maize Lethal Necrosis Disease (MLND) Strategic Planning Workshop August 21 – 23, 2013 Nairobi - Kenya How the maize seed sector in Uganda is dealing with it

2. Distributors NGOs & Relief Agencies Stockists Seed Policy National Seed Board National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) National Seed Certification Services (NSCS) Variety Release Committee Private Companies Importers Production and Processing Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) Farmers Informal Seed System Private Companies Government and Donors

3. Background MLN is a real problem in Uganda Scientists from NARO raised the need for surveillance in September 2012 during the NVRC sitting in Entebbe First cases reported in October 2012 in Busia More cases in border districts of Tororo, Mbale and Kapchorwa later Maize is a crop of economic and political importance in Uganda

4. Dealing with the disease….Broadly 1.Workshop in Nairobi - February 12-14, 2013 raised awareness of seed sector players 2.National workshop with stakeholders in Kampala on February 28, 2013 – Caution: Let scientists to take centre stage in providing facts about MLN to avoid confusion in the farming community 3.Awareness creation to seed industry players

5. Dealing with the disease….Interventions in Uganda i.Press releases by MAAIF in the print media [input from NAADS & NARO] - Educate farmers on symptoms of MLND ii.DAOs alerted especially in Eastern Uganda on surveillance by MAAIF [Not to allow importation of seed from Kenya] iii.At seed company level, information sharing with seed distributors and stockists

6. Dealing with the disease….Interventions in Uganda iv.Commercial hybrids, inbred lines and some OPVs sent for screening through NARO v.2013A season: Monitoring for symptoms especially in Eastern Uganda Wide spread drought experienced in the country – Withering of plants could be falsely associated with drought

7. Dealing with the disease…. Workshop – February 12-14, 2013: can we revisit outcomes and implement them religiously? Fast track release of tolerant hybrids…. – [Tolerant hybrids…. Give us to multiply] – [Resistant inbred lines…. Give us to bulk] – [What happens to certification… regional approach] – Fact sheet – beyond news papers

8. What are lingering challenges…. What should farmers be informed about Maize Lethal Necrosis Disease (MLND)? – That it is not a seed borne?? – That it is not airborne? – That it is a insect-vector borne disease? – That it is an agronomic management problem? How can the causes of the disease be explained to farmers? Are the disease symptoms discrete?

9. What are lingering challenges…. The Maize Lethal Necrosis (MLN) disease has no cure so far??. Surveillance: – Clearly index symptoms – Clearly provide action points to be followed in cases of identification – Who does the scouting in the maize farms – Practice crop rotation (at what stage?) Prevention vs cure …. MLN peculiar….many unknowns

10. What are lingering challenges…. How or at what stage can seed companies access material of the few resistant / tolerant varieties? Are all seed companies informed / trained / and how can this be done? Have seed companies got the morality to educate in a balanced way What capacity does MAAIF have to detect the disease

11. Conclusion Still debatable to conclude that Uganda is adequately equipped and prepared for controlling MLN. [Border porous and quarantine not official] The solution lies in urgently finding an immediate, collective, and concerted response to the imminent spread of this serious pest [as breeders and pathologists do their work] We need a regional and multi-institutional approach to manage MLN