First All-Africa Mushroom Conference

January 13, 2006

The First All-Africa Scientific Conference on Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms will be held October 25th …

The First All-Africa Scientific Conference on Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms will be held October 25^th 29^th, 2006 at the Nile Resort Hotel in Jinja, Uganda. The chosen theme for the conference, organised by NAPRECA Uganda and Makerere University, is Edible and medicinal mushrooms for health and poverty alleviation.

Background and objectives

Mushrooms have long been valued as tasty, nutritious food by different societies throughout the world. In the developing world, including Africa, mushrooms are used as food and medicine in many societies. In Africa, however, the medicinal and nutritional importance of mushrooms has not been adequately studied and documented. In the developed world, mushrooms now occupy a central position in natural products research (medicine, food, environmental issues). For instance, there is now increasing evidence that medicinal mushrooms have a wide array of medicinally important compounds that have anticancer and antiviral activity; offering great hope for the production of new drugs for ailments like HIV/AIDS, Avian influenza and the many cancers that afflict humanity today. Mushroom growing is also a source of considerable economic gain to farmers in the developed world, notably Japan and the USA. Africa lags behind in this unfolding mushroom revolution.

This conference will therefore be a meeting point between mushroom growers and scientists in Africa and the rest of the developed world; resulting in a benefit from exchange of experiences between scientists within and outside Africa. It will raise awareness of the scientific and commercial value of mushrooms and thereby sensitizing policy makers on the value of edible and medicinal mushrooms; resulting in commitment of more resources into research and production of mushrooms in this continent.

Proposed key conference themes

Ethnomycology and mushroom toxicology
Mushrooms in food and medicine
Mushrooms and the environment
Taxonomy and systematics in tropical mushrooms
Socio-economic aspects of mushroom industry in Africa
Mushrooms as non-timber forest products

Target participants

This conference will attract several individuals and groups, including but not limited to the following: graduate students of environmental science, forestry, crop science, molecular biology, mycology; the farming community (especially active and prospective commercial mushroom growers); mushroom spawn producers (international and local); researchers in food science, pharmacology, physiology and nutrition, forestry, botany, environment and wildlife, agriculture, molecular biology and taxonomy and many leading authorities in mushroom science and socio-economists.

Organising committee

This conference is organised and run by Makerere University (Uganda) and the Natural Products Research Network for Eastern and Central Africa (NAPRECA -Uganda). The conference brings together the resources of four faculties of Makerere University: Veterinary Medicine, Science (Chemistry and Botany departments), Agriculture (Food science department), and Forestry.

Local organising committee:

Dr. Deo. Olila Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (Physiological Sciences)/ Convener.
Dr. F. Ejobi Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (Public Health and Preventive Medicine).
Ass. Prof. J.D. Kabasa – Faculty of Veterinary Medicine -Dean.
Dr. Kamatenesi, M. Faculty of Science (Botany)/Chairperson NAPRECA.
Prof. Oryem-Origa – Faculty of Science (Botany).
Dr. Kakudidi – Faculty of Science (Botany).
Dr. Ipulet, P.- Faculty of Science (Botany).
Mr. Kimbowa JERA/NAPRECA.
Prof. Kiremire Faculty of Science (Chemistry).
Mr. Robert Byamukama Faculty of Science (Chemistry).
Mr. Muyanja- Faculty of Science (Industrial Chemistry).
Prof. Obua Faculty of Forestry.
Dr. Eilu, Gerald – Faculty of Forestry.
Dr. Joyce Kikafunda Faculty of Agriculture (Food Science).
Ass. Prof. C. Dranzoa – Faculty of Veterinary Medicine/Graduate School.