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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.

By Paul Ndiho

The Ugandan capital – Kampala has one of the worst traffic problems in the region. People often say they plan their lives around the traffic jams, which often continue throughout the day.  Even driving short distances can take hours. 

Unpredictable traffic is a way of life here. Even if a place is only a kilometer away, you might need to leave your house an hour early or jump on a Boda boda. Sometimes it’s even faster to walk.

The worst places are roundabouts and T – Junctions where traffic police officers stop one side of traffic for a very long time, and Boda boda cyclists cut in front of moving cars. This arguably is the main cause of traffic jams in Kampala — the cars already in the roundabout have the right of way, and you are forced to wait. Kiiza Joseph Ndiho is a self-made entrepreneur; he says for the business community, time spent in traffic jams means money lost.

“It’s Crazy it depends on which route you take, if you take for example Entebbe road, where so many people using one road, it’s going to take you an hour or two so if you do that every day, you lose 21 days in a year to traffic, that’s a huge cost in terms of time, in terms of resources, you are burning fuel, you’ve lost out on time, you should have been at work earlier. So what people do is that they tend to get up earlier than usual – 4 o’clock you can imagine you are required to get to the office at 8:00 o’clock but you are up 4:00am when you are only going to travel a distance of 15 kilometers – That can be nasty”

The other factors that contribute to congestion, he says, include the general condition of the roads, most of which are potholed, absent of properly signaled intersections, and poor connections and interchanges.

“You also have to take into consideration the fact that the city is growing, there are more people coming in and more people buying cars for the same size of roads. So it’s got to be something that will totally revolutionary it. We could have underground roads or the roads that could go above the normal roads for us to manage this jam.”

Kampala City Council Authority or KCCA plans to unveil a master plan aimed at solving the traffic problem will also address issues of accessibility and connectivity in the metropolitan area.

, With an annual population growth rate of four per cent, Kampala is the fourth fastest growing city in Africa, according to the Ugandan Bureau of Statistics, but there have only been a handful of new roads constructed in the past decade.

But for now, traffic is worse than ever and residents are increasingly taking Boda’s to beat the jam

“If you are trying to get around in Kampala, this is probably the easiest way of getting around. Boda boda are taken by everybody here especially during traffic jam hours. Just jump on a Boda boda and it will take you where you want to go.”

Boda boda ridership has skyrocketed in recent years, making it one of the fastest growing businesses in Uganda. They’re visible on nearly every street corner of the city.   And you won’t be in Kampala long before a Boda driver asked for your business

If you’re not interested, a simple ‘no’ will get drivers to leave you alone. You can travel most anywhere for 1,000 and 2,000 Ugandan shillings, but make sure to agree on the fare before the ride begins.

But Boda Bodas are extremely dangerous, because drivers seem will do whatever it takes to get you to your destination quickly. Expect to dart in front of and against traffic and even through crowds of pedestrians when necessary. Boda boda accidents account for most of the hospital visits and traffic fatalities in Kampala;

Wages in the Boda boda business greatly exceed those for other low-skilled jobs so many young men flock to the   business from other professions.

Around half of the drivers in Kampala rent their motorcycles at a rate of Shillings 60, 000 per week, but even at those prices, renters are able to tuned big profits and some see it as a ticket to achieving their dreams.

By Paul Ndiho

Students at Maryhill Girls High School’s – Science club in Mbarara, Uganda have designed a self-monitored car and plan to use the prototype to entice potential investors for funding. The robotic car is generating a buzz in Uganda.

Like countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Uganda has its share of road accidents. A fast growing population and rapid urban development means t more cars on the road and more road mishaps. Unpredictable traffic is the way of life here.  But all that could change if a group of young students from Maryhill High School in Western Uganda have their way. These girls have come up with innovative ways to save lives by designing a robotic car. The vehicle has sensors that automatically stop you from speeding, force you to wear a seat belt the moment you turn on the engine of the car, and can even alert the owner of the car.

They’ve designed their very own version of the electric car.

“We programed the robot to do many different functions. So we came up with an automatic seatbelt and it works in this way. The seatbelt will come down automatically after 5 seconds because we have a sensor here and this sensor is pressed, a message is sent to the motor, which makes the seatbelt come down and the passenger is prompted to wear his or her seatbelt. When the passenger is leaving the seat and tries to un-lean from the back of the seat the seatbelt will automatically come up, so that is the way we programmed it, it’s an automatic seatbelt.

The students have now set their eyes on increasing the number of safety features to include an automatic driving light control system.

“You see a lot of people from our country are being affected by the heavy light, full light and sometimes even the sun, so we came up with this.  When the light intensity increases beyond what the driver can contain, this driving light controller comes down automatically because of the light sensor… If the light intensity now reduces to what the driver can contain, it will come back up automatically.”

The self-monitored car was assembled by a team of students, supervised by one of Uganda’s leading innovation and technology teachers, Nickolas Kajoba. He says the robotic car is connected to devices that sense abnormal speed. At first, the sensor will send a warning, and if the driver ignores that warning, the car will automatically call or send a text message to alert the owner.

“Originally the idea was to make a call but we decided to add a text message feature on the phone. And if you fail to respond, then you can divert the call to somebody else. The person you want or you can even divert it to police no problem.”

The project is funded mostly by the school to encourage students in the science department to dream big.  Againe Sandra, is one of those students..

This is the touch sensor, the main brain of our car and it’s the annexed back … We have different motors. And these are the motors that we’re using and control the movements of the car. We also have the auto sonic sensor and these data cables.

Nickolas Kajoba, the teacher behind the self -monitored car says this car represents an important milestone for students in Uganda, showing commitment to top level teaching, and that investing in science and technology.

The self – monitored car is still under construction because the students want to make major improvements on the prototype before they take it for a serious road test. But in the meantime, these young girls already have their sights set on expanding the brand.

By Paul Ndiho

It is Xmas season again and the streets of the Ugandan capital, Kampala, are bustling with shoppers.  Retailers are looking to make huge profits to compensate for what most entrepreneurs have called a difficult year.

In the United States, the Christmas shopping frenzy officially kicks off on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, at the end of November.  However, in Uganda, most shoppers don’t hit the stores until the last couple days before Christmas. This period, though relatively short, is important for Ugandan retailers.  It’s also vital for service providers in hospitality and transport, who have suffered losses for most of this year and are pegging their hopes for a profit on the holiday season. In the city-center, men are looking for just the right gifts for their women, while the women are shopping for their men too.

“There is so much activity here in downtown Kampala. What this literary means, is that people take all their merchandise out of their shops and sell it on the streets. Why because they are targeting people who are shopping for Xmas so that’s why you see a lot of activity in the background.”

From students on holiday, to upcountry traders, to loving parents with shoestring budgets, tourists and to Ugandans living in the Diaspora who return home for December holidays, everyone is looking to buy something.

“For me I sell under garments and the business is moving very well because this Xmas season and we’re just trying to catch up. Xmas people come and buy – they have money they come and buy but other seasons there are a few people who come and buy. I’m just looking forward to it because last week and this week it’s really good.”

Parents are also digging in their wallets and purses for money to buy something for their children. And let’s not forget gifts for extended family members and friends.

Consumers are storming pricey shops and shopping arcades to buy items by popular designers.  For some retailers the timing couldn’t be better.

“This is Xmas season and people are coming into town almost everywhere from up country to shop for Xmas. It is good we’re doing clean money.”

People with less disposable cash are storming stalls on the streets to select clothing and footwear.  Even stage brokers are cashing in on this Xmas season.

“It’s because of the season people are very many in the city so we are getting a lot of money these days.”

Not everybody is cashing in on the Xmas sales.  Joseph Lukwago, a retail trader in the “Kikubo” wholesale market says that his business is not doing as well.

“Business is not good as such because people are normally poor – people are very poor.”

His colleague shares the same sentiment.

There is no business — Ok we’re not getting enough customers.”

Haggling contests are a compulsory shopping culture in Kampala city. Starting prices are often reduced by 25 to 50%.  Shoppers try to get prices lowered during the haggling process by walking away after the seller has revealed the item’s price, in hopes that the seller will call them back– or that they will be lured away by a competitive dealer.

By Paul Ndiho, Kampala Uganda

Most people in sub-Saharan Africa have no access to banks, so mobile money services are creating major opportunities for consumers and industry players alike.  In Uganda, mobile money by MTN and other mobile money service providers are giving commercial banks a run for their money.

MTN Mobile Money is a virtual wallet on your cellphone, and it enables you to securely send money and receive money using the device.

The money you send or receive exists in your MTN Mobile Money account, and you can use that money at any participating store to make purchases or even ‘withdraw’ cash.

“Mobile Money is arguably one of the easiest and safest ways of sending and receiving money. As you can see in my background here, there are people who are receiving and sending money. Okay, let me go and talk to them.”

Prossy, like many other people in Kampala, is a self-employed MTN Mobile Money vendor. She says that mobile money is fast, secure, affordable and convenient.  And it’s right there in the palm of your hand.

“When you have your money on the phone, you can go to a mobile money point because they are available everywhere especially MTN. You can go and withdraw your money and buy what you want. It is faster than a bank because you can take less than a minute to receive your money.”

Mobile money services have gained momentum in Africa, and mobile money vendors are all over the place.

Raymond Sewanyena is successful MTN Mobile Money vendor in downtown Kampala.  He says that mobile money is giving traditional banks a run for their money.

“It is a system where people get to send and receive money. Yeah, it kind of works like a bank. Someone gets to send their loved ones money. They can withdraw and deposit.”

A recent report by Ericsson Consumer Lab indicates mobile financial companies in sub-Saharan Africa are providing basic financial services to people currently under served by commercial banks. But mobile money also has its challenges.

“Usually there are money shortages, especially when you have many customers and they’re coming at the same times, you can make losses. Secondly, we also have fraudsters or con-men.

At some major MTN Mobile Money centers, there is a security everywhere.  “I protect the lives of people and my boss, and whoever comes in I welcome very well.”

Some financial analysts say the growth of mobile money in Africa will pose a serious challenge to the traditional commercial banks, especially if the banks don’t come up with new ways of competing with mobile money providers.