NARO innovations designed to create employment opportunities for women entrepreneurs

KAMPALA - The National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) has made several innovations that are being adopted and scaled by women and female youth-led enterprises across Uganda.

Among other things, these innovations are designed to enhance food security, improve household incomes and create major employment opportunities for women and young entrepreneurs in the agricultural value chain.

Some of these agricultural technologies and innovations were showcased on Sunday, March 08, 2026, at the various youth and women-owned stalls at the exhibition tent organised at Kololo Independence Grounds during celebrations to mark International Women’s Day.

NARO supported several women-led enterprises engaged in the agricultural value chain.

Young women exhibiting pre-cooked beans at Kololo. (Credit: Eddie Ssejjoba)

They included pre-cooked beans, spices production and packaging, composite flour designed to enhance nutritional value, coffee value-added products, as well as improved
animal feeds and pasture technologies.

Frank Mugabi, the NARO Senior Communications Officer, said that pre-cooked beans technology, for instance, reduces cooking time and fuel consumption while maintaining the nutritional value of beans, making it convenient for urban consumers and institutions such as schools and restaurants.

Spices production and packaging enterprises, he explained, enable women to process locally grown spices into branded, market-ready products, increasing shelf life and market competitiveness while generating higher incomes.

Such pre-cooked products are ready for eating, including “HarvGuard EzyBeanz”, Equator Composite Flour, and others, now packaged and sold in supermarkets across the country.

Frank Mugabi, the NARO senior communications officer and another staff showing some of the products from coffee including body scrub. (Credit: Eddie Ssejjoba)

The Composite flours, developed through NARO research, he explained, combine different nutritious crops such as cereals, legumes, and roots to produce affordable, nutrient-rich flour blends suitable for children, expectant mothers, and households seeking healthier diets.

“Similarly, value-added coffee products, including roasted, ground, and blended coffee, allow farmers and entrepreneurs to move beyond selling raw beans and instead capture greater value from the coffee value chain,” Mugabi explained.

The animal feed and pasture technologies being promoted by NARO also help farmers improve livestock productivity by providing balanced, nutritious feeds and resilient pasture varieties that can withstand changing climatic conditions.

“These innovations ultimately lead to better milk and meat production, supporting both nutrition and income generation for farming households,” he noted.

Women showcasing composite flour at Kololo. (Credit: Eddie Ssejjoba)

Mugabi explained that many of the enterprises that exhibited the NARO technologies were graduates of the ‘NARO Business Incubation Centre’, based at the National Agricultural Research Laboratories (NaRL) in Kawanda.

He added, “Through the incubation program, entrepreneurs, especially women and youth, receive training in product development, value addition, packaging, and business management to help them transform research outputs into viable agribusiness ventures”.

The Vice President, Jessica Alupo, who represented President Yoweri Museveni at the International Women’s Day celebrations, toured the exhibition tent and commended the exhibitors, including NARO, for promoting value addition and empowering women through agricultural innovation.

She also called for the development of more technologies that address the nutrition needs of consumers across different agricultural products, noting that research-driven solutions remain critical in improving livelihoods and strengthening Uganda’s food systems.