Second Round of Projects selected for support under the Resilience Innovation Challenge for Adverse Climate Effects (RI4ACE) under the Eastern Africa Resilience Innovation Lab
The Eastern Africa Resilience Innovation Lab identified and is funding seven projects under the Resilience Innovation Challenge 4 Adverse Climate Effects (RIC4ACE) grants.ranlab.org. RIC4ACE focused on sourcing, development and scaling of innovative technologies and approaches that will strengthen resilience to shocks and stresses that arise from climate variability and climate change. In particular, through RIC4ACE, RAN was looking to catalyze and incentivize the development of solutions to impact Agricultural production and markets, livelihood diversification and financial inclusion.
- Kungula – Maize Thresher (Innovators: Stephen Ssekanyo (Team leader E-mail: sekanstephen@gmail.com), Pidson Abaho and Samalie Nakaggwe)
The need: InUganda facts and figures from the grassroots research paint a gloomy picture of the country’s food security situation. High on the list of causative factors is poor post-harvest handling, where most farmers incur losses, cumulatively leading to loss of billions of shillings during harvest. In most districts, the average weight loss as a result of poor post-harvest handling is 30,000 metric tons of maize, worth over Shs13billion. Read more
- EDAD – Electronic Dollar A Day (Team Members: Eng. Daniel K. Byamukama ,Team leader E-mail: byam033@hotmail.com, edad.epayments@gmail.com ) Mr. Paul Bakaki, Mr. Emmanuel Lule, Ms. Sheena Kokunda and Mr. Robert Kimera)
The Need: In many rural areas in sub-Saharan Africa households living in subsistence contexts hardly save their merger incomes. This is not only due to low incomes from subsistence agriculture but it is also a consequence of poor access to savings institutions like banks, credible micro-finance bodies, Village Savings and Lending Associations (VSLAs, and Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs). Read more
- Rapid Solar Dryer (Team Members: Dr. Robinah Kulabako (Team Leader), Dr. Philip Nyenje, Mr. Swaib Semiyaga, Mr. Mohammed Ssemwanga)
The need:Majority of rural farmers rely on sun drying of seed produce before it is ready for the market. Sun drying covers a broad range of grain, ranging from cereals to legume seeds, however, increased uptake of modern methods of farming in rural Africa has also led to a modest rise in the demand for Direct Solar Dryers (DSD), to dry and preserve farm produce. Read more
- Mushrooming Livelihoods: (Mr. Gerald Kyeyune Muwanga , Team Leader E-mail: , Dr. John James Okiror , Mr. Katende Stephen Sserunjogi, Mr. Muhereza Begumya David , Mr. Mivule Danson, Mr. Kigonya Allan, Mr. Mbowa Lutimba)
The Need:Rapid population growth in sub-Saharan has contributed to shortage of land leaving communities with less land for agriculture. More still, communities experience recurrent shocks arising from climate variability and climate change with high dependence on subsistence Agriculture because the yields are meager and non-diversified. Read more
- B2K! Back to Millet: (Team Leader: Dr. Julius Gatune, Team Leader, Dr Deborah Cohen , Ms Patience Kikoni , George Wanjohi, Zainab Kangale
The Need:Traditional cereals and tubers like millet, sorghum, sweet potatoes, cassava and yams are slowly disappearing from the stapple diets of many communities in rural Africa and beyond. Maize and rice have come up to claim a growing share of the dinner serving of many households. This is part of a globallization trend in which corn/maize and rice are becoming a global staple food. Read more
- Village Egg Bank in Egg Currency (VEBEC) (Team Members: Mr. Swaib Dragule-Team Leader Email: Imran Ejotre ,Acaga Taban Ismail, Feni Gard)
The Need: One of the barriers to saving among small holder farmers in rural areas is the lack of monetary currency to spur savings. This is because their small volumes of produce often attract small amounts of monetary gain. At the community level, small holder farmers do not have sufficient leverage on market prices because of the small quantities they offer for sale at a time. Read more
- Better Farming Better Me! Team Members; Dr. Possy Mugyenyi Team Leader Email …., Dr. Gudura Basaza, Mr. Daniel Kadobera, Ms. Jennifer Kalule Musamba and Ms. Kellen Namusisi Nyamurungi
The Need:There are high levels of food security and environmental degradation in communities that rely on only one form of commercial crop production. This is seen mainly in areas where tobacco is the only perennially grown cash crop. The key challenge is how to wean off households from the dependency loop on one crop. Read more