NARO Founder Prof. Joseph Mukiibi Dies

Prof. Joseph Mukiibi, the founder and first director-general (DG) of the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) -- is dead.

His passing was announced by the current NARO DG, Ambrose Magona, in a Twitter statement.

“It is with great sadness that I have learnt and relay the news of the death of Prof. Joseph Mukibi, the first-ever” NARO Uganda DG. Magona promised to “share more about his legacy in due course”.

Prof. Joseph Kugulukumu Mukiibi, born in Kakumiro district Uganda in 1937, is a plant pathologist and he published widely on tropical crop diseases.

The professor obtained his Ph.D. in plant pathology from the University of St Andrews and before that he had a Bachelor of Science in Botany and Chemistry from the University of London.

For over twenty years, he lectured at Makerere University, where he also served as dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry among other roles.

At NARO, he served for 15 years.

Away from Uganda, Prof. Mukiibi taught at the University of Nairobi, Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania and spent two years as Chief Research Scientist, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Sudan.

At the time of his death, among other roles, he was the chairperson of KILIMO Trust, an organisation promoting agribusiness and intra-regional agricultural markets and trade.