SOYBEAN RESEARCH IN UGANDA * BY Bernard Bashaasha June 1992 1. INTRODUCTION. a) Historical Perspective. Soybean was introduced in Uganda between 1908 and 1913. However, serious production did not occur until 1940's when, due to a war time demand from Britain, cultivation reached 14,000 - 16,000 hectares. In 1950 Soybean exports reached a record level of 4,314 tons before undergoing a decline after 1952. In 1955, experimental yields of 1,100 kg/ha were obtained using no fertilizers. As a result of a need for agricultural diversification, import demand in Europe and pressure from human nutritionists, there was renewed interest in Soybean production in 1965. Hence, between 1965 and 1968 annual production increased from less that 1000 tons to 8,000 tons. Between 1981 and 1983 about 5,000 - 6000 hectares of soybean were planted annually with average yields of over 1 ton/ha (Hittle, 1987). Soybeans are a very important source of food and feed. They are also a source of income for farmers, a source of edible oil and a potential nontraditional export crop. While soybean is processed for animal and poultry feeds in Uganda its use as a source of edible oil is still limited. b) Research. Since 1960, research on soybean has been conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Makerere University. Accessions and breeding lines from many countries have been received and evaluated. Experimental yields have ranged from 400 - 3,907 kg/ha. By 1975 six varieties namely S - 35, Congo 72, Clark 63, Bukalasa 4, No.7 and Kabanyolo 1 had been released. Information on farm-level performance of each of them is not easily available but Kabanyolo 1 seems to have performed best as it is still cultivated by many farmers. Due to the civil strife of the last 15 years, soybean varieties, breeding lines and seed increases were lost. Since 1973, many INTSOY trials were conducted. The results of these trirJs, however, have either not been reported or reports have largely been lost. Only one report, for trials conducted in 1976-77, is currently available. In this report sixteen entries with eight local checks were used and yields ranged from 694 to 1725 kg/ha with a grand mean of 1364 kg/ha. Hence there was evidence as far back as 1977 that imported soybean material could perform well under Uganda conditions (Hittle 1987). * Report is basically a summary of soybean research in Uganda.