**5. Increase in demand can be met through research and development**

Much as oil palm is still new in Uganda, some considerable amount of knowledge on the crop has been gained. This is courtesy of research with the research team based at the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO). The research has from the time of inception focused on pests and diseases surveillance and integrated pest management system as a key control method, development of best agronomic management practices for optimal fertilizer uses, and enhancing the capacity of smallholders in agronomic practices to increase the yields [31]. Determination of optimal conditions for harvesting by determination of the time from pollination to ripeness maturity and maturity to fruit rotting. It should be noted that oil palm planting materials currently in use are being purchased from West Africa and South-East therefore, multi-locational trials, should be set up to identify the materials which are better adapted to the Ugandan conditions. Furthermore, training of researchers, in regional and international oil palm research centers both in Africa and South-East Asia like in oil palm breeding for training and acquisition of planting material for breeding trials are vital. Accurate and reliable data capture including weather data from potable automated weather stations and frequent monitoring is important in determining whether these plants can successfully grow under such environment [31]. Further, due to global warming, water retention techniques and some other cultural practices which lead to increased water retention and harvesting are important in oil palm production. There is need to develop an environmentally friendly method of breeding for superior oil palm planting materials suited for Uganda with good characteristics like disease resistance, oils with a higher level of unsaturated fats and drought tolerance with the help of molecular methods since the oil palm genome has been sequenced [32].
