2024 Borlaug Field Award Ceremony
Dennis Beesigamukama
Dr. Dennis Beesigamukama, Postdoctoral Fellow at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), was awarded the 2024 Norman E. Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application, Endowed by The Rockefeller Foundation. He is recognized for spearheading the development of novel, low-cost technologies for recycling organic waste into nutrient-rich, disease- and pest-resistant, insect-composted organic fertilizers within a fraction of the time it takes to produce other organic fertilizers, addressing agricultural soil degradation challenges for over 100,000 farmers in East Africa and beyond.
Beesigamukama comes from a farming family in Southwestern Uganda. His early exposure to the challenges of rural agriculture and soil degradation fueled his passion for soil science, which led him to Makerere University, where he earned his B.Sc. in agricultural land use and management and his M.Sc. in soil science. His thesis research on composting water hyacinth weed into organic fertilizer for managing the highly weathered soils in Central Uganda showed him the great need for affordable, locally produced fertilizers. The need for local solutions to soil fertility has only grown in recent years, with escalating costs and unavailability of synthetic fertilizers due to disruptions in supply chains caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.