National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI);
PhD
Dr. Africano Kangire has more than three decades of research experience in Uganda, working with the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO), since 1994, at its inception. Previously, he worked as a Research Officer with the Ugandan Ministry of Agriculture (MAAIF), from 1983-1994. Dr. Kangire holds a degree in Bachelor of Science (Makerere University), Master of Science (M.Sc) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) both from the University of Reading of the United Kingdom, in 1987 and 1998 respectively. He also holds a Diploma in Public Administration and Management (DPAM) from Nsamizi Training Institute of Social Development (2008-2010). He has also attended many short courses relevant to his call of duty and supervised a number of research fellows pursuing tertiary degrees in fields of agriculture.
Currently, Dr. Kangire is in charge of the Horticultural Fruit Sector of Horticulture and Oil Palm Programme at NARO-Uganda, since 2015. He has introduced Aquaponics project in the Programme which he is a passionate investigator. He is also in charge of the Postharvest handling project in partnership with the Republic of South Korea (KAFACI) and other 14 African countries. He is also Co-investigator of grafted tomato project to fight bacterial wilt (IRESO), in partnership with SOLIDARIDAD and the Netherlands Government. Dr. Kangire is also Chairman of the Uganda Agricultural Chemicals Control Technical Committee; an advisory statute-body to oversee effective and safe use of Agricultural chemicals in Uganda. Between 2007-2013, he Headed the Coffee Research Centre (COREC), in Uganda. During that period, Dr. Kangire and his team worked tirelessly to fight mainly the Coffee Wilt Disease (CWD) which had devastated Robusta coffee, in East and Central Africa, and in Uganda. To this effect, Dr. Kangire and colleagues made a number of publications in local and international journals on coffee and other crops. In order to avail farmers with sufficient CWD resistant varieties, Dr. Kangire and team developed Tissue Culture technology and mother garden planting materials’ enhancing systems to massively disseminate seedlings of CWD-resistant materials to farmers. By the end of 2013, coffee production in Uganda had increased from about 2.0 million 60Kg bags of clean exportable beans that were exported in 2006/7 year, reaching 3.5 million bags exported during the 2013/14 coffee year. At the end of 2013, the NARO Governing Council recognized Dr. Kangire and his Research Team for Developing Coffee Wilt Disease Resistant Varieties and their tireless efforts to fight the CWD menace in Uganda.