Posted on August, 3, 2018 at 10:17 am
ICT students challenged to develop Apps for agricultural betterment; Student s under taking Information and Communication Technology related courses have been challenged to play a key role in the agricultural sector by developing applications that can support famers to overcome challenges hindering the growth of the sector.
The call was made by Dr. Drake Patrick Mirembe an ICT innovator while addressing 35 students at the Uganda Technology and Management University (UTAMU) who are undergoing capacity building training to develop applications to be used in the agricultural sector .
“For the agriculture sector to develop, it requires the support of all professionals and for it to develop further, farmers need to adopt modern technology being developed by scientist and other related stakeholders in the ICT sector. The current challenges faced by most farmers can be addressed by the application of ICT and that is why students need to develop application that can support farmers to address the bottlenecks in the sector” Mirembe said.
Mirembe noted that the Agricultural sector has unexploited market for ICT related innovations but such market opportunities have not been exploited by Ugandan Apps developers which has negatively impacted on the growth of the sector considered the back bone of the country’s economy.
According to Mirembe the major areas which IT students should focus on more include; developing application that can support farmers to access quality market for their produce, monitor out brake of diseases and pest to mention by a few.
Other sector which the learners should support farmers in include developing application that can help farmers to access to finance and also applications that can support them to access extension services which is key in improving agricultural production both in the crop and Livestock sectors respectively.
The 35 students undergoing the capacity Building training were selected from various universities across the country, they are undergoing a five days training at the UTAMU university under the University’s (UTAMU) hacks program) which is being funded by the Uganda Communication Commission .
Professor Jude Lubega the Vice Chancellor of the University said the best students will be rewarded by the commission and those found to be with justifiable projects will be supported to develop their ideas into tangible products that can support the agriculture sector in the country.
BY SAMUEL NABWIISO
Source: East Africa Business Week