Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology A 2 (2012) 840-844 Earlier title: Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology, ISSN 1939-1250 Prevalence of Rice Diseases in Ogor and Orum Sub-counties, Otuke District Bosco Bua and Thomas Awio Department of Agriculture, Kyambogo University, Kyambogo-Kampala, Uganda Received: November 3, 2011 / Published: June 20, 2012. Abstract: Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is an important food staple in most of the tropical and sub tropical countries of the world. In Uganda, rice has grown to become an important food security crop and source of cash income for the majority of the rural farming communities across the country. Despite its importance, rice production has consistently remained low averaging 1.5 t/ha under farm conditions. The low production of rice is attributed to a number of production constraints. Therefore the objective of the survey was to ascertain the major production constraints in rice growing in the two sub-counties of Orum and Ogor, Otuke district. A diagnostic survey using semi- structured questionnaires was conducted in the two sub counties between July and August 2010 to gather information on the major production constraints from key informants, opinion leaders, farmers, technical and political leaderships. The findings showed that diseases were the major constraints in rice production accounting to 27% compared to other constraints. The other constraints included insect pests (23%), weeds (21%), drought (20%) and low prices (9%). The major diseases encountered were rice blast (30%), brown spot (23%), rice yellow mottle virus (19%), sheath rot (15%) and grain rot (13%). Overall, diseases accounted for 79% of the yield reduction in rice. The implication of these findings therefore is that diseases and other constraints in rice production must be adequately identified for easy management to ensure sustainable rice production. More importantly, farmers should be sensitised on disease recognition, means of spread and control. Key words: Diseases, rice, production constraints. 1. Introduction Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is an important cereal staple food for a large part of the world population in terms of the area cultivated and amount consumed. Globally, more than 90% and 60% of the global rice is grown and consumed in Asia and south East Asia, respectively. Rice is produced on about 10% of all crop land (144 million hectares) in over 110 countries ranking second to wheat in areas harvested. Recently, production statistics within the east African region showed that Tanzania had attained self-sufficiency in rice production, while in Uganda area under rice cultivation has grown tremendously as a result of government efforts to diversify the economy [1]. Correspondencing author: Bosco Bua, Ph.D., research fields: crop science, plant diseases diagnosis, management and epidemiology, pathogens genetic diversity, horticulture. E-mail: boscobua@yahoo.com; bbua@kyu.ac.ug. Traditionally, rice has the potential to improve nutrition, boost food security, foster rural development and support sustainable land use in Africa. Accordingly, rice has grown to become an important food staple and source of cash income for the majority of the farmers in Uganda. Indeed, the growing importance of rice as a food staple and cash crop is due to the extensive urbanisation and decline in production of millet and other major sources of carbohydrate staples in Uganda [2]. Moreover, the inability to reach self-sufficiency in rice production in many countries is attributed to several major constraints in the rice industry including poor production technologies, low inherent yielding cultivars, poor agronomic practices, pests and diseases attacks as well as poor post-harvest handling practices among others. Consequently, rice yields at farm levels are very low averaging only 1.5 t/ha as opposed to the D DAVID PUBLISHING