Jaguza Tech in Berlin Germany

Jaguza Tech is privileged to participate in this year’s Young Founders Conference 2023 organised by Westerwelle Foundation. Of the 25 young Founders that participated in YFP Autumn 2022 program, Jaguza Tech emerged among the top 10 founders hosted for the conference represented by Christine Kihunde, the co-founder.

The conference is a great platform to network and meet a significant number of Investors and partners around Berlin Germany and the rest of the world.

We shall be telling the world how we can improve the livelihood of small and large-scale rural livestock farmers while ensuring food security.

It has been a wonderful year for us as the Jaguza Tech having a number of achievements recorded.

We can not fail to thank the Almighty God for preserving us and enabling us to continue pursuing or mission of empowering Livestock production to strengthen food security in and outside Africa. We have progress, met new friends and partners as well as strengthening old relations.

The challenges cannot go unnoticed such as the shakeups due to the previous pandemic, structural and operational reforms to mention but a few. These have rather opened our eyes to bigger perspective within the eco system and laying ground for better ways of countering challenges.

We would like to extend our vote of thanks to our undying partners, clients and critics, competitors and mentors such as Airtel Uganda, Ministry of ICT and National Guidance, MAAIF, Heifer Uganda, AATF, UNAA, Westerwelle Foundation, GIZ SAIS program, Acumen Academy, 60Decibels and many more.

To our Business Partners, We pray to God that our association grows stronger with time. On occasion of Christmas, we would like to thank you for all your support which has helped us grow. Wishing you and your family Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May all your wishes come true and you are blessed with joy and prosperity

Airtel Uganda on Monday announced the first winners of its UG Needs More of You campaign which celebrates Ugandans who have provided tech-inspired solutions to transform lives in communities. The winners; Bernadette Ojao, Gerald Otim, and Ronald Katamba received a shared grant of UGX30 million to scale and improve their businesses.

Ronald Katamba (Jaguza Tech ) emerged as the second runner-up and he received UGX5 million for his solution Jaguza Tech, a cloud livestock management system that empowers livestock farmers, strengthens food security and mitigates the risk of livestock disease.

Katamba told the press that because of the exposure received from the UG Needs More of You, they have been able to start expanding in Niger, Gambia, and Iowa. “Through this campaign, we have gotten a lot of opportunities,” he said. “We are all working hard to improve the lives of people in our communities —it is our role to make sure we push to help them through digital.”

At the same event, Airtel also announced the second and the last set of techpreneurs who are transforming the lives of people through their solutions.

1. Gerald Abila, founder of Barefoot Law, a nonprofit organization that through the innovative use of digital technology, empowers people with free legal information so that they can use it to develop legal solutions for their justice needs.
2. Joseph Kayiira, Team Leader Philomera Hope Center Foundation Uganda, has developed a One Impact App to help TB patients get online help without stigma.
3. Joseph Ogwal, founder of Agro supply, an online platform that supports farmers with access to agricultural inputs.

The telco has urged the public to continue participating in the campaign by voting for the solutions [mentioned above] that inspire them the most. To vote, simply dial *162#. The process is expected to take two weeks and the telco will have a crown event where all the winners shall get their cash support to scale their ideas.

The pioneers of this campaign are; Dickson Mushabe – founder of the Dolphin Fund,  Dr. Davis Musinguzi founder of Rocket Health which is using telemedicine to save lives, and Catherine Nakatudde founder of Ella Clear Foods.

It is no doubt that Technology is impacting lives by adopting its use in the most essential areas of our daily lives. Similarly, Ugandans who are utilizing the power of technology to positively impact their communities over the years deserve to be honored for their great work and efforts. It is in recognition of this need that Airtel Uganda on March 7th, 2022 launched a campaign dubbed, “Uganda Needs More of You” seeking to showcase, celebrate and recognize Ugandans using technology to positively impact their communities.

The telco unveiled an Airtel Mobiste http://www.airtel.co.ug/UgneedsmoreofU (Uganda Needs More of You) where many Ugandans submitted their stories of how they have [are] utilized [utilizing] technology to positively impact their communities.

“We are impressed by the compelling stories of various Ugandans who have championed innovative ideas to positively impact their communities,” said David Birungi, Pubic Relations Manager at Airtel Uganda. He adds “As a solution provider that connects businesses to their client and families to their loved ones through affordable internet products and services, Airtel Uganda will continue to support initiatives like UG Needs More of You so that we inspire more people to continue on this journey to transform their communities and economy as a whole.”

The submitted stories were judged by a selected jury which includes Dr. Maggie Kigozi; the Chairperson of Africa Scout Foundation, Mr. Maurice Mugisha; Deputy Managing Director at UBC TV, Mr. David Birungi; PR Manager at Airtel Uganda and Ms. Noela Byuma, Ag. Head Brand and Comms at Airtel Uganda. Today, the telco unveiled the first batch of techpreneurs in the campaign who have leveraged technology to positively influence their communities.

In the first batch, three stories have so far been identified, these will be open to the public voting process and a televised series on select media houses that will feature the nominees as they showcase how they have used technology to transform their business and the community around them.

The first stories that have been selected in this campaign include:

Ensibuuko, a Savings Group that enables SACCOS to access digital savings accounts, loans, and other financial services through a phone.

Jaguza Technologies, a cloud livestock management system that empowers livestock farmers, strengthens food security and mitigates the risk of livestock disease.

Wabibi Pads, producers of reusable sanitary pads for women and girls in marginalized communities and have embraced social media to reach and train over 1,000 women and girls and also distributed over 10,000 packs since 2020, are the 3 stories that will be voted by the public to make it to the next stage of the campaign.

“Jaguza Technologies is one of the greatest companies in Africa that is working hard to improve livestock production and climate change to strengthen food security. I’m happy that Airtel Uganda has recognized us and has selected us to be part of the Uganda Needs More of You campaign,” said Jaguza Technologies Founder and CEO, Mr. Ronald Katamba. “We want the government and other stakeholders to come and we work together to help our people in Uganda and Africa at large.”

To Vote for Jaguza Tech, simply dial *162# on your Airtel Line and choose option 2 (Jaguza Tech). The exercise is simple and free of charge. Thank you for your vote.

As the Jaguza team, we are glad to be invited by Ugandan North American Association (UNAA) in San Francisco California September 2nd, 2022 at Hilton Hotel Union Square.  The convention is organized under the theme: ” Recovering beyond the Pandemic: Embracing new opportunities in the greater Diaspora”

Our CEO Mr. Katamba Ronald will be presenting at exactly 14:30pm San Francisco Time on how Jaguza products and services can be adopted in the diaspora.
Make Uganda Proud

We talked to Christine Kihunde Kiiza, Co-Founder of Jaguza Tech U Ltd, about a system that helps farmers with their problems, especially those who are socially and economically disadvantaged. This is what she said:

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times?
Christine Kihunde Kiiza: My family and I are doing well. It was, of course, not easy at the beginning of the pandemic, but now by God’s grace, we have learnt to manage it. Everybody in the family is aware of the virus and is very conscious to observe the steps set by our ministry of Health.

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded Jaguza.
Christine Kihunde Kiiza: I am a married, God fearing lady, hardworking and openminded, I love learning and venturing into new things and an accountant by profession.

I joined Afrosoft IT Solutions Ltd, which at the time was working on Jaguza Livestock App. During the course of business, I got interested in the innovation, later became a co-founder and later registered it as an independent company.

Many people in Africa, especially in Uganda, own at least a cow, goat, chicken, or pig, whereby many have made it their livelihood amidst various challenges such as disease outbreaks, market & veterinary service inaccessibility and much more. Therefore, I believe that with the adoption of Jaguza Livestock system, many farmers shall have improved lives once adopted. I was privileged to participate in the CTA Pitch AgriHack Competitions 2019 held in Accra, Ghana and emerged the best prize in the mature stage category in the whole of Africa. Since then, I have been part of many livestock programs geared at digitalising agriculture.

How does Jaguza innovate?
Christine Kihunde Kiiza: We innovate by employing an online and offline livestock management system focused on empowering livestock production to strengthen food security using machine learning, the internet of things, and big data. We employ Jaguza Livestock Mobile App (both android and iOS) in seven different languages. The App has very interesting modules that help farmers access our services in real-time. It has a market module where farmers can view real-time market prices for livestock products and farm equipment. They, too, can open up a product store, upload and sell their products.

The Jaguza Livestock App provides farming tips for all livestock, disease information, and a self diagnosis module where a farmer enters signs and symptoms observed on an animal. The app gives the likely disease plus reference to our online vets that can handle the problem.

There is no need to be caught unaware of the climate. Our app gives farmers a 17days weather update to help them plan ahead of unfavorable weather. The “My Farm” module is where a farm owner can register all his animals, farm activities, expenses and income at all production stages. As Jaguza, we understand that many farmers in rural areas do not have smartphones or internet. Therefore, we also have a USSD Code and SMS platform where farmers can access our services. Our farm record management system is also offline to help rural farmers keep their records.

Under IoT, we employ sensor technology that uses machine learning and data science to detect diseases in animals 48 hours before they manifest using parameters of temperature, heart rate, breathing and stress levels. We employ drone technology on farms with big herds of cattle to monitor and solar GPS to track animals around the farm.

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business, and how are you coping?
Christine Kihunde Kiiza: Like many businesses, the pandemic found us unprepared for it. We had planned a lot of fieldwork and trips to acquire more devices, but all this could not happen as there was limited movement in and outside the country.

However, the pandemic created more relevancy for our market module. This is because farmers still wanted to sell their products online, and customers were still in need of these products. We had to form a customer care center to handle the calls and help people access our online services. We also had to create more jobs (sales delivery). Therefore, the pandemic became a blessing in disguise.

Did you have to make difficult choices, and what are the lessons learned?
Christine Kihunde Kiiza: Definitely, choices had to be made in order to keep business going. We had to set priorities and redirect our resources on modules that would help the company stay in business. We learned to continually study the market and follow the trends to keep relevant on the dynamic global market.

What specific tools, software and management skills are you using to navigate this crisis?
Christine Kihunde Kiiza: We have employed strategic planning along all our departments to allow coordination and uniform results. We are also majorly employing our website, social media platforms, USSD & SMS plus Mobile App for information decimation, online vets & by extension workers to handle farmers’ queries.

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?
Christine Kihunde Kiiza: Our competitors are E-Farm in Uganda and Daral Technologies in Senegal. Our system is both online and offline, and we use IoT devices and have a farm record system, marketplace, which gives us an upper hand over our competitors. Our team is also in-house, passionate about what they do, and innovative and open to learning new technologies to keep competitive.

Your final thoughts?
Christine Kihunde Kiiza: We believe that our Jaguza Livestock System can help many livestock farmers improve their productivity and also earn from their sweat. What is more interesting, Jaguza is ready and willing to learn from farmers experiences and challenges in order to serve them better, which makes Jaguza Livestock System worth having.

https://startup.info/christine-kihunde-kiiza-jaguza-tech-u-ltd/

Many organisations have come up to see that Ugandan farmers and the National at large produces quality food and livestock products for a sustainable food market but most of all maintain Food security. Amongst the many is The Integrated Seed Sector Development (ISSD Plus) Uganda. Today, the 29th of April 2021, Jaguza Tech U Ltd, Ministry Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF), National Agricultural Research Institute (NARO) alongside other stakeholders have joined to celebrate the close out celebration on ISSD (Plus ) Uganda project.
ISSD has for the past 8 years aimed at contributing to the development of a vibrant, pluralistic and market-oriented seed sector, providing over 300,000 smallholder farmers access to affordable quality seed of superior varieties and strengthen seed sector institutions and environment. ISSD works and has been working across the entire seed value chain. ISSD also has been recognising the importance of all seed classes. The project has been implemented by Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation (WCDI) in partnership with NARO and is funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Uganda.

During its tenure ISSD have been driven by various goals as highlighted below;
– Sale of Quality Declared Seed (QDS) and Certified seed at convenient and diversified outlets (seed fairs, weekly village markets, agro-dealers)
– Creating awareness on the benefits of farmers using quality seed (road shows, demos, radio, TV etc.)
– Stimulating effective demand for quality seed among smallholder farmers through value chain integration, small packs seed sales and demand studies.
– Supporting and training additional LSBs (Local Seed Businesses) to produce and market Quality Declared Seed (QDS)
– Support LSBs to increase productivity and improve business management practices (training, innovation grants, LSB Associations, infrastructure grants, linking Business Development Services, Gender Action Learning System methodology etc.)
– Skilling farmers on improved vegetable production
– Variety demonstrations by the private sector;
– Pre-competitive in-depth farmer training on the use of advanced vegetable seed varieties by the private sector;
– Capacity building in the sector through training of sector professionals.
– Training, coaching and coordinating District Agricultural Officers in new zones on QDS regulation and quality assurance;
– Supporting development of decentralized seed testing capacities and many more achievements.

Through the support of ISSD plus project, 90% of Seed producers have been able to produce quality seeds over the past few years. ISSD has registered 4,200 Seed entrepreneurs in 63 districts of which 53% of these are women where as 24% are Youth.
With the help of its partners, ISSD has been able to develop a Digital Tracking Information system to enable tracing and tracking seeds along the Seed Value chain hence this will improve the competitiveness of Ugandan seeds on the global market.
59 Seed varieties have been disseminated through NARO and planted on over 205,000 hectares of land by 326,719 farmers.
ISSD has also been able to build capacity of a team of 147 vegetable sector professionals that continue to operate through a joint platform ‘Horticulture Sector Professional’s alliance (HOSPA)’. It has promoted quality vegetable varieties from Dutch seed companies to over 17,300 vegetable farmers through field days on demonstration sites and training events. It has implemented in partnership with 6 Dutch seed companies, reached over 7.8 million rural people through a mass media campaign on use of the quality vegetable varieties
53% of the vegetable farmers in locations of project operation have had knowledge of at least one of the quality vegetable varieties promoted by the project. Over 11,680 farmers were trained on advanced practices of vegetable production and by 2020, 23% of vegetable farmers in the areas of project operation had adopted the quality vegetable varieties.

All thanks goes to their key partners in Uganda, that is;
Ministry of Agriculture, Animal industries and Fisheries (MAAIF), National Agricultural Research organization (NARO) and its Zonal Agricultural Research Development Institutions (ZARDI), Local Sees Business (LSB) and Out-Scaling Partner (OSP) organizations, Private seed Sector, Vegetable breeding companies and their Ugandan representatives and Smallholder farmers including women and youth. Other partners outside Uganda include Syngenta, House of Seeds, Bejo, Enza zaden, East West Seed, Home Harvest, Holland GreenTech and Bakker brothers.

National ICT Initiatives Support program is a program that was started under the Ministry of ICT to support local innovators. Their goals is to provide systematic and sustainable Support to ICT innovators, promote local ICT products and services , establish ICT innovation parks and promote local electronics manufacture and assembly.

Yesterday on 26th July 2019, Jaguza Tech was honoured to be listed among the 60 finalists 0f the 665 applicants to be supported for this 2nd Phase. The ceremony was graced by Hon Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda Ndugu And the Minister of ICT Hon. Frank Tumwebaze.

During the Speeches, Hon Frank K Tumwebaze submitted that ” People should go to schools to learn, Universities should teach people to Innovate and People should innovate to earn”

Jaguza was awarded 100 million as the best Agri Tech innovation in Uganda. We bless the Lord for the far He has taken Jaguza, The sky is the limit. Appreciations to the Ministry Of ICT  and NIISP and all our partners that have helped us reach this far.

In a span of one week, AgriTech startup; Jaguza Tech has managed to collect — [to be exact] USD$27,566.08 (UGX102,000,000) in grant prize. To break down the startup managed to secure UGX100M (USD$27,025.57) from the NIISP and UGX2M (USD$540.51) from the recent ended Africa Blockchain pitch competition.

NIISP is a government funded program that aims at creating a sustainable ecosystem for ICT innovations and support ICT innovators and developers at large in Uganda. The program in its second year of running saw 665 startups signing up for the fund. However, only 60 startups were selected to receive the grant.

Out of the 60 startups, 11 of them were AgriTech startups, including Jaguza who bagged UGX100 million (USD$27,123.06). It were Jaguza, Akellobanker, and Patasente in the agriculture category who received the most [UGX100M).

In the Africa Blockchain pitch competition, the Jaguza emerged as second runners-up receiving a grant prize of USD$2,000 (UGX7,373,800). The overall winner and the first runners-up; Innovex and Pesa Base respectively. With Innovex receiving USD$5,000 and Pesa Base receiving USD$3,000.

A Jaguza tags being place on the cow’s ear to help monitor its health. File Photo/Jaguza

The pitch competition was held for innovators with a passion for developing sustainable digital solutions leveraging technologies in blockchain, big data, AI, robotics & drones — to solve pressing challenges across their communities.

Founded by Mr. Ronald Katamba, Jaguza Tech developed a mobile application and a drone to help farmers monitor, and manage their livestock.

The Jaguza Livestock App is used to monitor the animal’s health including; the heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure and its whereabouts. The app is connected to chip that is embedded to an RFID tag attached to the cattle. The data extracted from the chip is sent to a farmers device that can either be a PC or a mobile phone. Upon receiving a notification, the farmer takes action as soon as possible.

On the other hand, the drone under implementation — monitors the livestock from above. This becomes helpful to especially farmers with large herds of cattle. The drone has a chip and thermal cameras that directly communicate with the microchip on the RFID tag of the cattle — detecting the well-being of the animal.

Our reporter holding what appears to be one of the Jaguza drones. They are equipped with thermal cameras. File Photo/Jaguza

Jaguza is leveraging the use of Internet of Things (IoT) to play a role in improving and modernizing the agriculture sector in Uganda.

Jaguza is currently operating in Uganda, Mozambique Namibia and Fiji. Plans to expand to other countries in the next few years. In Uganda, the technology is being used in Entebbe, Kayunga, Pallisa and Nakifuma districts. Jaguza plans to expand to Western areas of Uganda, starting with Mbarara.

“We’re now moving to western districts and our first district will be Mbarara soon next month,” said Katamba when contacted by our reporter.

Notably, Jaguza emerged as semi-finalists in the 2019 AgriHack Pitch competition. The annual competition is an initiative by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation that supports entrepreneurs in ICTs for agriculture through capacity building and funding to accelerate youth employment and agricultural transformation.

Jaguza for their innovation, were selected along with other 9 startups from Uganda. In a total, there were 104 AgriTech startups selected for this competition for a chance of winning Up to €15,000 (approx. UGX62.2 million) in grant.

A technologist and software developer Ronald Katamba in 2016 introduced to farmers in Uganda the Jaguza Livestock App.

A short drive out of Kampala is Katungu Country Farm in Nabbingo Wakiso district. The farm is located in a crowded residential area. It is owned by William Bashasha. Besides crops, he keeps a couple of hybrid cows.

But the location of his farm in a semi-urban crowded area does not guarantee the security or health of his livestock.

To avoid infecting his livestock, everyone entering the farm gets their footwear disinfected.

Bashasha also hires a herdsman to keep an eye on his cattle, but this human safety net is not 100% guaranteed. Anything can happen.

To ensure he does not lose his livestock which is a source of income to theft or disease, Bashasha has embraced computer technology in Jaguza Livestock App.

A technologist and software developer Ronald Katamba in 2016 introduced to farmers in Uganda the Jaguza Livestock App. This was in the districts of Pallisa, Nakifuma, and Kayunga where he hails from.

Katamba opted to test the app starting from his home area that would be more welcoming to his ideas, create visibility and roll it out to other parts of Uganda.
The Jaguza Livestock App helps farmers to detect diseases in animals in the early stages. It also monitors the whereabouts of their livestock to avoid theft.

Other functions

Besides monitoring livestock and diagnosing disease, the app also connects the livestock farmer to a veterinary doctor online.

A farmer through the app can know where a veterinary doctor is located, what they specialize in, contact them and chat directly to get a remedy.

There is also a diseases database, market information. Farmers and their clients can buy and sell through the app, get real-time prices for their livestock and products.

The app also comes with expense tracker. It guides the farmer on how much they have spent on their livestock to enable them to sell at a profit.

Jaguza Livestock system, in a nutshell, is a one-stop platform for all livestock information. Data collection is another role it is programmed to do.

Farmers do not have to use the traditional pen and paper recording system of keeping and tracking data on their livestock.

“We are using big data, collected through our app every day and want organizations and governments to access it, to form or influence policies on livestock farming. Even veterinary doctors not registered on our system online also pay to get this data,” Katamba explains.

It is only if the doctor’s, organizations and government have a partnership with Jaguza then they can access the data free of charge.

Equally, clients using the Jaguza app, every three months’ pay US$30 about sh.122,000 to access all information online.

Uptake

Katamba, reveals countries other than Uganda currently using the app include Mozambique, Namibia, and Fiji. He says there are plans to roll it out in the Western Cape in South Africa.

In Uganda besides the app being used in the districts of Pallisa, Mukono and Kayunga districts, there are plans to introduce the app to farmers in other parts of the country.
“It is a process but we plan to roll out the app to 20 districts across the country by 2020. Our app has to remain the same but we shall keep improving its efficiency and visibility to farmers in East Africa, Africa, and the world,” Katamba says.

So far 6,211 farmers have been trained to use the Jaguza livestock system and so for 65 veterinary doctors are registered on the system to offer services.

Katamba says using artificial intelligence even if the farmer and doctor speak different languages the app is able to translate and the farmer gets assisted.

So far over 800 farmers have been assisted by the Jaguza livestock app and 2,200 cases successfully handled.

Katamba has patented the Jaguza Livestock app and took the prototype to China for mass production.

The device/chip goes for US$7 (about sh26,000) each and has a lifespan of five years.

Using the app regardless of where the farmer is, they can monitor the health, safety, and production of livestock in their farms from the palm of their hands.

How it works

The app uses a variety of information and communication technology (ICT) tools. It consists of a hardware (the device), software (computer programs) and mobile (mobile phone) both offline and online.

Ronald Katamba the app developer says the Jaguza Livestock App has three major components that include a computer or phone (whether a basic phone or smartphone) which receive information,

Then a chip (or ear tag) with a sensor which is attached to the animal and radio-frequency identification (RFID) reader which receives information from the chip and feeds it to the computer.

The sensor can get detected by the reader at a distance of 300 meters. So, for big farms, an antenna or radar is used to boost the frequency.

The chip on the ear gets to monitor the livestock’s temperatures and variations. It will tell the state of the animal’s health and reproductive stages.

This chip is connected to the reader which channels information to a computer. The app is able to alert the farmer if any of their livestock is going to become sick 48 hours ahead of time.

This enables the farmer to get veterinary assistance through the system early enough, and treat the sick animal.

For tracking, the farmer can be able to know whether their livestock has moved beyond farm demarcations, in case they are being stolen.

But instead of a chip, a monitoring device is placed around the cow’s neck to track it.

The monitoring device is solar-powered, while the chip for disease diagnosis has a battery with a three-year lifespan. Today the Jaguza Livestock App helps farmers to monitor and diagnose early stages of diseases in animals using sensor technology.

The Livestock farmer gets all this information on their computer or phone whether they are offline (not using internet) or online (using internet).

While online, the notifications are received via the app although there is a short message service (SMS) option for offline users and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD).

Using USSD, a farmer types a code on their phone and specific data on livestock health, movement and management are sent to the phone.

Katamba says the Jaguza Livestock App can also locate the whereabouts of animals in a given area using Global Positioning System (GPS) trackers to avert theft.

Katamba recently demonstrated how the app works to a group of farmers at Katungu Country Farm in Nabbingo Wakiso district that belongs to Bashasha.

Bashasha had the Jaguza monitoring system and tracker fitted on his cows. He said small farmers like him face a lot of challenges including disease and livestock theft.

At the demonstration, the Mayor Kyengera Town Council Wakiso district Abdu Kiyimba said it was only those with guns who would manage livestock keeping in his area.

He said cattle theft in his area was rampant but was optimistic the Jaguza monitoring system would solve the rampant cattle theft.

Using the Jaguza Livestock system, farmers can also use a drone technology if they have a large scale farm to monitor their livestock and record their numbers.

Uganda’s multi award winning Agricultural innovation, this Jaguza Livestock App is set to go international, Afrosoft boss Ronald Katamba has revealed.

He said he is working on partnerships with the African countries of South Africa, Rwanda, Malawi and Mozambique to extend the services of the platform to their countries.

Developed by Katamba and his team at Afrosoft, a technology and innovation hub in Kampala, Jaguza is a system used to monitor and diagnose early stages of diseases in animals, using sensor technology and locate the whereabouts of animals in a given area using GPS systems.

Currently, the app is being used by farmers in three districts in Uganda with the fourth district set to be added this weekend.

Katamba further revealed that he has held talks with the ICT Ministry in the South Pacific nation of Fiji to have his app services extended there to better livestock production.

He was earlier this week engaging World Bank’s Profession officer for climate-smart Agricuture, Friederike Mikulcak at Afrosoft Hub in Kampala.

World Bank is currently looking for the success stories of entrepreneurs in all African countries to gauge which innovations would create impact on their communities for possible funding.

In Uganda, they selected Ronald Katamba a software developer, mentor and Agriculture entrepreneur. He will represent Ugandan innovators, tell the story of what an innovator goes through and the challenges faced along the way.

Katamba has on several fronts represented Uganda, and East Africa in international innovation contests where his Jaguza platform has scooped global awards.

The App was recognized at the ITU Telcom World Entrepreneurship Award 2015 as the best entrepreneurship project of the year, named among Best Nine Agriculture Projects in Africa 2015 by CTA Africa, and named among best 20 projects in East Africa by Ashoka Change Maker.

In 2016, the app was recognised as the best e-agriculture for young ICT Innovation at the Common Wealth Telecommunication Awards, an award he received at the CTO Forum in Nadi, Fiji.

Full article here

Jaguza Tech, a Ugandan-grow technology firm that innovates to ease livestock farming in Africa, has unveiled an online platform through which farmers can sell their products as well as buy agricultural inputs.

Agriculture remains the major income generator for the vast majority of households in Africa. This has prompted organizations like the African Development Bank (AfDB) to earmark US$24 billion to be invested in the sector in the next 10 years.

AfDB believes that Africa’s richest men and women in the coming years will come from the sector.

“Africa is today spending $35 billion a year importing food. That is US$35 billion that should be kept on the continent. This is a US$35 billion market that young people can tap into to create new wealth each year. To do that requires totally changing the lenses with which we look at agriculture. Agriculture should no longer be seen as a way of life or a development sector, but rather as a business for wealth creation,” the Bank President Akinwumi Adesina has said.

But to have millionaires and billionaires emerge from the agriculture sector, a lot of things have to be addressed.

For instance, recent surveys have shown that some of the key challenges farmers in Africa are facing, aside from limited access to finances, include presence of multiple middlemen who affect how much farmers earn,  scattered agricultural holdings which make marketing of agriculture products difficult, and limited tools of collecting information and relaying it to people who need it.

Jaguza’s online market seeks to address some of the above challenges. For instance, through the app or the web platform, farmers can sell their products directly to the end user, they can set their own prices, reach lots of buyers without having to transport their products to a distant, difficult-to-reach market.

Reports also indicate that middlemen, at times, alter products hence harming the reputations of farmers, there’s also a problem of lack of uniform standardization. But with Jaguza’s platform, farmers have full control of their products and the company rigorously analyses what’s sold on the platform before a farmer is allowed to work with the company.

In a country like Uganda, despite 75 percent of the country’s population being employed by the agriculture sector and the sector contributing about 20 per cent of the GDP and about 48 percent of export earnings, the government still allocates a tiny fraction of the national budget (below 5 percent).

That means the ministry and other stakeholders can’t have enough funds to conduct things like research which is a fundamental engine for growth in any sector of development.

With platforms like Jaguza’s marketplace, this will contribute immensely to studying the market so that farmers can always produce according to market statistics.

Key to know about Jaguza e-commerce

You can access Jaguza Farm market via the web or through the mobile applications (Android or iOS). On the platform, livestock is listed so a buyer can choose what they want to buy and then they are connected to the farmer.

Farmers, after going through a rigorous verification process, are allowed to onboard their products. The platform also connects farmers to dealers in agriculture inputs and vice versa.

Farmers and buyers are also always updated on the latest market trends, they get timely information on what’s happening in the sector among other things.

Speaking to Ronald Katamba, the CEO and founder of Jaguza Tech, he said the company’s aim is to increase the options of farmers when selling their products or buying equipment to use on their farmers. This, he says, will see farmers focus on what they do best: rearing animals, without having to worry about the marketing side.

Frugal innovation is an emerging concept that captures the efforts to create innovative products or solutions in resource- constrained environments. These Solutions are adaptable , affordable and easily accessible to consumers.

Jaguza Tech was privileged to attend a stakeholders workshop that took place on May 15, 2019 at Makerere University Business School from 9am to 12pm. This workshop is part of the project ” Exploring The nature and prospects of Frugal Innovation In Uganda” funded by the British Academy’s International Partnership & Mobility Scheme, involving academics at the school of Business, University of Leicester and MUBS ,Uganda.

The workshop brought together stakeholders from government , NGOs, firms and academia who are central in creating an environment to support frugal innovations in Uganda.
Specifically, the workshop was focused on the innovations performed by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Uganda.
Jaguza was honored to submit its contribution towards building research, practice and policy partnerships. A vote of thanks to the organizers of this visionary project workshop.

The 11th global ICT4D Conference brought together public, private and civil society organizations from across the humanitarian and international development community. Participants shared how they are using innovations in information and communications technology to increase impact in addressing humanitarian and development challenges.

This highly interactive and hands-on conference always attracts a diverse audience of technical advisors, field-based program managers, executives, and others who offer a range of practical insights on applying technology to development challenges. This year’s conference was held at Speke Resort Munyonyo from 30th April upto 2nd May 2019 and a training on 3rd May 2019.

Jaguza Tech was privileged to participate as represented by the re-known Executive Director, Mr. Katamba Ronald. He submitted a paper on digitizing Agriculture and Livestock farming at large. Basing on the recent Uganda-AgGap synthesis report from World Bank, it is cognizant to embrace technology in agribusiness in Africa today.

Jaguza Tech was honored to be invited to participate in the recent Digital Agriculture Workshop in Nairobi Kenya. The work shop was organised by African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) and held on 26th -27th March 2019 at Park Inn by Raddison Hotel, West lands Nairobi Kenya.

The workshop was aimed at bringing together experts in the field of Digital Agriculture to Explore Digital Agriculture as a New Paradigm for strengthening Agribusiness In Africa.

AATF is an international not-for -profit organisation that adopts a public private partnership model to expedite access and delivery of technologies to Africa for the benefit of the Small holder farmers and other key stake holders critical to the development of the agricultural value chains in Africa.

From the discussions we had from various agricultural experts around the African continent, we hope to see Agriculture become more desirable to the young generation with the use of modern technology. We hope to see more gender sensitive mechanization since more small holder farmers are women.