Ndiho Media

By Paul Ndiho

Peanut, also commonly known as groundnut in East Africa is one of Uganda’s staple crops.  It’s rich in protein, oil and other essential minerals.  The food item has increasingly become a cash crop as it transforms agriculture in Uganda, benefiting hundreds of mostly female farmers. 

Peanut or groundnut is cultivated in the semi-arid and tropical regions of nearly 100 countries.  It’s an important legume that is consumed worldwide.  In sub-Saharan Africa, peanuts are the principle source of digestible protein, cooking oil, and vitamins.  The crop is also a significant source of income for many families across the region. David Kalule Okello, a senior researcher at the national agricultural research organization (NARO), heads groundnuts improvement program in Uganda.

“Groundnuts is actually one of the most important legumes in Uganda, if you look at it from the point of the capital household consumption, it is the most important because it the type of food, the way people grow it here it is embedded in their culture, so it is a very important crop, it’s very rich in energy and protein and it also enriches the soil, such as the substance crop which follows it benefits from the nitrogen.”

Over the years, peanut crops have suffered from numerous pests, diseases and erratic climate changing patterns. However, Okello and other researchers have been working hard to improve the varieties and so far, they’ve released about 10 varieties that are pest and disease resistant.  Okello is charged with ensuring that the country is adequately supplied with the right quantity and quality of the crop.  That job includes developing drought-tolerant, pest-resistant varieties of the crop.  And says that whatever they are doing is having a direct impact on the people.

“If you look at the contribution to the household income, there was a study done and submitted in 2006, which says that adopting these new released varieties reduces poverty by 7 to 9%, that one is quite substantial. And then they found that actually if such varieties are sold their income increases from 130 to 250 dollars by hector.  So this finding actually shows you that improving groundnuts can actually bring income to the nation and households.”

Researchers say peanuts are an important, high-protein food crop in the country, as well as a valuable cash crop, because the nuts can be processed into a variety of products from peanut butter and pastes to oil.  Farmers are getting better yields from their harvest and the instead of the crop heading to dinner table, it’s destined to the markets for sale.

“The crop has suddenly moved from being subsistence to commercial. So with that comes the issue of value addition, so it’s very common now to find rusted peanuts, peanut butter, flour and then other blends all over the place. And this is an area where we think if properly supported it can bring lots of money, improvement on the livelihood of people.  Also another area which we are seeing the groundnut is the prom peanut, this is a therapeutic food, which we think if supported there’s not need importing it, we can make it locally here.”

Peanut roots form modules, which absorb nitrogen from the air, and provide enrichment and nutrition to the plant and soils.  Peanuts require little input, making it appropriate for cultivation in low input agriculture by growers with small farms.  The crop is mostly grown in sub Saharan Africa as a subsistence crop under rain-fed conditions as compared to developed countries like the United States where it’s grown commercially.

By Paul Ndiho

Are you a student who loves to code or has a great idea for a great mobile application?  University students across Africa are participating in an apps competition.  Well, a group of talented app developers at Makerere University, in Kampala, Uganda are taking part in this challenge

A Mozilla Firefox mobile app contest open to students in Africa is generating a lot buzz on college campuses in Uganda. The goal is to build great apps that can operate on either android or IOS.  The competition is geared towards giving young i.t. talents the opportunity to showcase their innovations on the global stage.  Kwesiga Sam is a software development engineer and the national chair of software developer in Uganda.

“We’re a group of software developers in Uganda. We meet here, we share ideas, and we combine our knowledge depending on one’s capabilities not necessarily on being a programmer.”

Sam is also developing his own crowd sourcing app that helps drivers in Kampala avoid traffic jams or public demonstrations in real time.

“This is representing a specific incident — assuming on I’m here on this round about and I have realized that there is an incident taking place — so I’m trying to notify other people not to use this road. What you do is you click on your location on the map it will populate information into this.”

This group of undergraduate developers is competing in the challenge competition. These students have created some interesting applications that could change the way we interact with our smartphones and tablets.  John Baptist Ochieng is currently working on a first-aid application.

“Generally what it does is that it gives tips on first aid and it has a map and when you click it, it zooms to where you are and i map into locations of where you are and when you click on the marker of the map, it will give the contacts of that hospital and ambulance services so that you can call for help. The functionality that it has is the email capabilities — if it’s not an emergency you can email the doctors and it provides ranging from minor to major incidents.”

Echodu Moses, an information technology student, is not worried about making money from the apps just yet.   He says students are being encouraged to come up with applications that can be entered into the marketplace for free.  He’s also confident that their hard word work will pay off in the near future.

“They are developers who are wondering how they are going to earn from it — but people also forget the fact that the guy of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook was open source because many people could just log in and start doing things for free of charge and now he’s is a billionaire because he gave it out to everyone but then companies came in to support him. So most of the applications are free, most developers are actually earning from it.

I.T. student LeBron Brian Ssekalegga has won several contests for developing cutting edge applications.  He developed an app that makes all of the student’s class schedules available on hand held devices.

“I have several apps and one that won the contest— this app was all about making education easier for students. What I did was basically to make timetables for students on hand held devices. you don’t need to go online but you can down load a package for the entire semester and you move with it on your phone. You just click on the year that you are in i.e. if you are doing information technology, there is you part, if you are doing computer science, there is your part.”

Analysts say that these apps will have a major impact on how we use smartphones in the future. For instance, if you need emergency care, this GEO location app created by Kabali Shafique at Makerere University can help you the nearest hospital.

“The GEO location feature of the application is basically, what you are seeing every dot that you’re seeing here right now is a medical facility and this mapped customary. It’s basically customized to medical facilities and right from your location. Clicking on any dot, assuming this a touch phone that you using, it shows you the hospital name and right from there you can actually initiate a call or better yet, you can also zoom in to the nearest hospital.”

Joyce Nalwadda, a Mozilla Firefox student ambassador for Africa and the only female on the team, says that the innovation challenge is not only about building apps, but mentoring young developers.  She says being part of the team is helping her to meet some of most talented young people on the continent.

“Well I happen to be in Brussels where I met a number of young and old people who know about technology. They do code, graphics and a number of things and one thing that inspired me there was code. I saw young people who can create platforms we use this side to create code and create some other things.”

Most of these app developers are struggling to market their creations on a national level, because the technology isn’t wide-spread enough yet.  Only a few have cashed in on their apps.

The Mozilla team members are hoping that they can be next the Abdul Ssekalala, another Ugandan app developer whose app “word of the day” on Nokia phones is one of the most download apps in the world.”

By Paul Ndiho

Did you know that the equator traverses the land and territorial waters of 14 countries and seven of them are in Africa?  Uganda is one of the few countries in the world that the equator intersects.  The equator crosses through Uganda approximately 72 kilometers south of Kampala, along the famous Kampala – Masaka road.

At this point, there are two huge circles marking the equator line and if you are traveling to Masaka or Kampala, you would be wise to stop and snap a picture.

“The equator is an imaginary line on the earth’s surface that runs from east to west and divides the earth into the northern and southern hemisphere.”

Another reason the Uganda equator stop is worthwhile is the great shopping bargains. There are several craft shops and art galleries that sell souvenirs and handmade products about the equator.  But, before we do the shopping, here is a simple quiz?

“Did you know that if you poured water in a funnel on the northern hemisphere it runs clockwise and in the southern hemisphere it runs counter-clockwise and right on the line the water goes straight?”

Being able to stand on the equator is a privilege only a few have the opportunity to experience, as the imaginary line passes through a only few countries in Africa, South America, several islands; and oceans.  The demonstration that you are about to see is one of a kind– and i bet — it will blow your mind– and perhaps you will learn a few things about the forces of nature.

“If you pour water when you are northern side of the equator on top of this funnel it drains in the clockwise direction and on the southern side it will change and drain anti-clockwise. And right here on the straight-line there won’t is any movement. And this is caused by the cirrhosis’ effect of the magnetic field.

After pouring the reason why i put this metal is just to make the water calm down so that i does not pour. After making it still, i drop this flower on top to show its direction: it runs clockwise. This means that those who are living in the northern hemisphere: when you flush your toilet or open the sink plug the water will run clockwise.

Southern hemisphere:  the flower changes direction and runs anti-clockwise. Some countries in the southern hemisphere for example New Zealand and Argentina all there toilets flush this direction.

The equator is more than 40,000 kilometers or nearly 25-thousand miles long; 78.7% is across water and 21.3% is over land. The latitude of the equator is by definition 0 degrees. Said kalungi Huntington, equator Uganda tour guide:

“On the 0 degree latitude (equator line): water will not spin, it will just stay sill. You will not see any movement because both magnetic fields are pulling on the equal point.”

The equator is one of the five notable circles of latitude on earth, the others are– the two polar circles and the two tropical circles – the tropic of cancer and the tropic of Capricorn.  Interestingly the equator is the only line of latitude, which is a great circle.

Scientists say the places on the equator experience the quickest sunrises and sunsets. Since the sun rises and sets almost vertically throughout the year. The length of a day from (sunrise to sunset) at the equator is almost constant during the year; each day is about 14 minutes longer than night because of atmospheric refraction and the fact that sunrise/sunset is the moment when the edge of the sun’s disk passes the horizon, rather than its center.

“21 March and 23 September are equatorial equinox days where the sun rises and sets directly above the equator line .at midday on these two days you won’t see your shadow.  This is because the line is straight up.”

This equator intersects six African nations; Uganda, Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Somalia, and Sao tome and Principe.

The temperature at the equator can plummet during rainstorms. In many tropical regions people identify two seasons: the rainy season and the dry season, but many places close to the equator or near oceans are rainy throughout the year.