The ‘desert locust’ is one of the challenge calls at the Kampala INSPIRE Hackathon 2020 . The Kampala INSPIRE Hackathon 2020 is one of the satellite INSPIRE hackathons. The hackathon is organised in the frame of the IST Africa 2020 Conference. There are 9 challenges in this Kampala edition. The desert locust challenge comes when some parts of Eastern Africa are experiencing locust infestation since the end of 2019. The locusts have posed a great threat to the East African Societies, which largely dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods. Therefore, the team is inviting innovative...
SciDevNet opines that the use of ICT tools is helping smallholders access farm inputs and increase yields. The article reviews a project in Uganda that is using ICTs to empower smallholder farmers. The situation : A major problem that has been confronting the two Ugandan smallholders – who epitomise the struggles of many in Sub-Saharan Africa – is the lack of adequate information on best farming practices such as when and how to plant that could lead to increased productively, more income from their produce and better livelihoods. But a project in Uganda that uses information and...
In sub-Saharan Africa, smallholder farmers are vulnerable to risks associated with changing weather patterns. In Uganda, the SUM-Africa project provides satellite based drought Index Insurance to protect farmers. The SUM-Africa project is supported by the G4AW program of Netherlands Space Office (NSO) and recently a Dutch Company (EARS) signed a long term contract with Uganda Agro Insurance Consortium (AIC) to continue this service. What are agricultural index insurance? Agricultural index insurance products are linked to an index, such as temperature, rainfall, crop yield or...
YITEDEV-Uganda is organising the Open and FAIR Data in Agriculture and Nutrition workshop with the main goal of unlocking the potential of weather, land and nutrition data to better the food value chain in Uganda.
African agriculture is faced by many challenges and yet technology – especially satellite and drone-assisted mapping technologies are poised to improve decision making for farmers and governments. However, since most farmers in Africa are smallholder farmers and mostly poor, what business models can be employed in collecting and processing key agricultural data? As part of the Innovation in Outcome Measurement (IOM) initiative, which was a tow year program to develop and test cheaper, better, and faster ways of collecting agricultural data – TechnoServe conducted a pilot project in Uganda to...
The United Nations Global Pulse is an initiative that focus on Big Data. The Pulse Lab Kampala , in Uganda has developed a prototype application that makes it possible to analyse in real time public discussions on the radio. This tool is unique in that it applies speech technology in three Ugandan languages (Ugandan English,Luganda and Acholi) - through a collaboration with academics at Stellenbosch University in South Africa who taught computers these three languages. In Uganda, there are over 250 FM radio stations and most of them are community radio stations. These stations have a popular...
In Uganda, the spread of agronomical information is quite challenging, and the number of extension officers cannot meet the growing demand from farmers who often need immediate assistance. Thanks to innovations in information technology, mobile and web-based platforms are proving to be a huge help. m-Omulimisa provides smallholder farmers with real-time farming information and solutions written in local languages via mobile technologies. Farmers can use their phones to ask questions in languages that they understand, and receive understandable feedback from extension officers in the region...
The market-led, user-owned ICT4Ag-enabled Information Service (MUIIS) Service Bundle was officially launched at the CTA Uganda country office on 8 March 2017. MUIIS is an innovative project that harnesses the power of satellite data to support extension and advisory services to farmers in Uganda. The MUIIS Service Bundle consists of a series of context-specific weather alerts, agronomic tips and index-based insurance throughout the season and covers four agricultural commodities: maize, beans, sesame and soybeans. To access these services farmers must be profiled and once profiled, dial short...
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is working with the Ugandan Agriculture Ministry to develop a policy for youth to be involved in agricultural value chain.This was said by the FAO Country Representative for Uganda - Alhaji Muhamad Jallow who was quoted by the New Vision . In Uganda, 79% of youth live in rural areas where poverty is relatively high and agriculture is the major economic activity. The government's plan, in collaboration with FAO , is to help the youth have access to finance, tech entrepreneurship skills and promote ICT in agriculture. Mobile...
YITEDEV-Uganda is organising the Open and FAIR Data in Agriculture and Nutrition workshop with the main goal of unlocking the potential of weather, land and nutrition data to better the food value chain in Uganda.
