Kamukwape's Diary

  Information and Communication Technology (ICT) plays an important role in enhancing the impact and performance of agricultural production and poverty alleviation by increasing productivity through new credit and financial services. Ensibuuko , a mobile and web application that helps farmers in accessing financial services is making a huge impact in Uganda as it has enabled saving and credit associations (and other financing organisations) to handle savings and make loans to smallholder farmers. Ensibuuko  was conceived over a cup of coffee between two friends in 2010. Mr. Gerald Otim and Mr. Opio Obwangamoi David shared a similar background as they were both raised in peasant farming communities. Mr. Otim had attempted to establish a microfinance organisation for farmers, but with a lot of frustration. It is from these frustrations that he and Mr David were moved to establish Ensibuuko. The solution is targeting farmer’s welfare through Savings and Credit Cooperative Organis...

  The Challenge of weak integration of ICT in agriculture Technology  plays a great role  in enhancing advisory services, knowledge exchange, data acquisition and access to market and trade in the agricultural sector. As mobile communications technology widens and  subscriptions increase at a high rate , the opportunity to leverage the role of ICTs in agriculture for improved and sustainable agricultural development becomes more possible/obvious. However, despite the tremendous possibilities that exist, technological innovations and applications are still weakly harnessed for agricultural development. Stakeholders at the national and international levels are calling for increased actions in these areas, as articulated during the  2013 ICT4Ag Conference  organised by CTA and its partners. Youth participation is critical for the development and dispersion of those innovations. Exploring youth entrepreneurship opportunities through ICT4Ag According to  IT...

  Young entrepreneurs are already turning the wheels of the agricultural revolution. They are driving the paradigm shift in facilitating access and communication of agricultural information and knowledge. They are not just creating a buzz in ICT for Agriculture (ICT4Ag) but fervently transforming the practice of agriculture with innovative ICT solutions such as web and mobile applications. With increasing interest and support from various stakeholders in empowering these young ICT4Ag entrepreneurs, the digitisation of agriculture is beating the odds, responding positively to concerns such as sustainability, nature and quality of the information provided and engagement of youth and women. While the beginning of these initiatives was mainly inclined to the provision of information to support farmers at the production stage, the overwhelming support has so far seen the rebirth of approaches and innovations crossing the borders of provision of information for production only to as far ...

DIGITAL PENETRATION AND BRANDING OF SPORTS BETTING WEBSITES IN ZAMBIA I noticed a hype about sports betting in Zambia. So I embarked on a quick analysis using some digital marketing method, to assess the website country rank, engagement and traffic sources of sports betting websites in Zambia. It is interesting to note how BetPawa and BetWay are competing. For example, in February, 2019, BetPawa ranks as number 24 in terms of the most visited website out of all (overall, including non betting websites) websites in Zambia, while BetWay ranks number 8. However, it is interesting to note a sharp and wide gap in terms of engagement. BetWay got 663, 920 visits while BetPawa got a whooping 2,400,000 visits. Users spent about 26 minutes on average, visited 18.9 pages on average, on the BetPawa website while users spent almost 7 minutes and visited 2.8 pages on average, on each visit. There are other websites such as M-Bet which look visual, have good social media presence and brand...

NARUDI NYUMBANI, BUT I AM ON A MISSION It's 2013, I receive news about the 6th Africa Agriculture Science Week set to take place in Accra, Ghana. I really want to attend this event to learn and network. I submit my case study: " Improving access and application of information and knowledge for agriculture by transforming telecentres into agricultural knowledge hubs ," to be presented under the information and knowledge for food security in Africa, side event. My cases study is accepted and I get full sponsorship to attend and present at the one week conference. At the same time, I get support as a youth participant. I am so excited. Thanks to FARA and CTA. Simon at the 6th Africa Agriculture Science Week 2013 It turns out to be a very successful trip. I return home on South African Airways, connecting from Accra to Nairobi, to Johannesburg, then Bulawayo and finally Lusaka. Just when we are about to land, a beautiful song plays, it arouses my emotions and I cannot hol...

Deep in the bush was our camp. A makeshift house made out of a military tent, furnished with camp beds with water flowing beneath following a heavy downpour, gave us a shelter that kept our eyes from glancing at the beautiful night stars of a forestry bush. He was an old-almost retiring high ranking Paramilitary. Like wine getting better with age, he had grown some admirable tactics and had a lot of wisdom wrapped in his service stories. His  machine gun and knife on the side, his eyes popped up, his feet well stamped to the ground, ready to take defense should the bandits, commonly the Nyamulenge on the loose, attempt to attack. We had just smashed our meal that evening and chipped into a series of conversations. "There was confusion during the construction of the Kariba Dam." He recalled. About 57,000 people were set to be relocated. He went on explaining how dangerous it was for people to settle around that area as any accident that would lead to the breaking o...