Rinchi
TechInAfrica – An AgriTech startup, Jaguza Tech has collected around UGX102 million in grand prize from Africa Blockchain pitch competition. The grand prize was received from a government-funded program NIISP which aims at supporting ICT innovators and developers in Uganda.
This year is the second year of its program. There were around 665 startups submitted for the competition though only 60 of them got selected to receive the grant. Among those numbers, 11 of them were AgriTech startups which included Jaguza Tech.
Jaguza Tech emerged as the second runner-up of the Africa Blockchain pitch competition in the AgriTech category and received a grand prize of USD$2,000. Meanwhile, the first runners-up were Innovex and Pesa Base received USD$5,000 and USD$3,000 respectively.
The competition aims for startups that develop sustainable digital solutions, including blockchain, big data, AI, robotics & drones, to solve challenging problems in their communities.
Jaguza Tech was founded by Ronald Katamba. It developed a mobile application and a drone to help farmers monitor and manage their livestock. The app is called Jaguza Livestock App and used to monitor animal’s health, including blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, and whereabouts. It used chip embedded to an RFID tag attached to the cattle. The data then is sent to farmers’ device (PC or mobile phone).
Meanwhile, the drone is used to monitor the livestock from the sky which is very helpful for farmers with large herds of cattle. It is equipped with a chip and thermal cameras that can detect the animal’s health condition.
Jaguza Tech has currently operated in three African countries: Uganda, Mozambique, and Namibia, and in one Pacific country, Fiji Islands. It has future plans to expand its solution to other countries in the next few years.
In Uganda, Jaguza’s technology is used in several districts including in Entebbe, Kayunga, Pallisa, and Nakifuma districts. It plans to expand to Western areas in the country which will be started in Mbarara.
Source: pctechmag.com
