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The Plant Genetic Resources Centre (PGRC) is an institution under the National Agricultural Research Laboratories (NARL) of the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO).
It is an entity comprising the historical Entebbe Botanic Gardens (EBG) and the Uganda National Gene bank (UNGB), located at 34km north of Kampala and 5km from Entebbe International airport.
MISSION
The mission of the Centre is to ensure the conservation, management and sustainable use of Uganda’s Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA) while optimizing their full potential in contributing to national development goals.
Plant Genetic Resourced for Food and Agriculture constitute one of the most important resources for achieving Uganda’s development goals including poverty eradication, food security, medical and industrial advancement hence a key ingredient in the nations transformation process. Threatened with the various human activities which keep increasing with the rapid population growth, these resources need to be secured, studied and made readily available for research and development. This forms the core business of the PGRC.
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
•To collect and maintain stocks of diverse plant germplasm.
• Enhance utilization of germplasm through characterization evaluation and genetic enhancement.
• To develop information and documentation systems and strengthen linkages among stakeholders.
• To promote community based and on-farm conservation of PGR as a basis for sustainable natural resource management.
• To contribute to development and promotion of acceptable germplasm exchange mechanisms.
• To enhance the role of the Botanic Gardens in National development.
Research
The centre pursues scientific and other appropriate research programmes individually or in collaboration with other national, regional and international institutions. Research areas include; seed behaviour, genetic diversity and erosion, population structures of selected species, developing appropriate methods/ approaches for managing germplasm in-situ and ex-situ, genetic base broadening (making more desirable genes available in germplasm for breeding) as well germplasm adaptation studies for new promising crops.
Use of plant diversity to control pests and diseases.
Education and Awareness
The Centre has a documentation unit which holds all the information generated on the germplasm held. In addition, the Centre also manages the National Information Sharing Mechanism (NISM) which captures information on activities that relate to PGRFA being undertaken in the country by different stakeholders and makes it publicly available on the web. The Centre also offers educational tours to the Botanic Gardens and the genebank to a wide audience including farmers and students.