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CAES Students-Developed KeBELA BIOSENSOR To Boost Organic Farming

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Students from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES), Makerere University have come up with a user friendly and affordable technology dubbed, KeBELA BIOSENSOR to test farm produce for pesticide residues. Since access to organic agricultural market demands that produce has to be certified by an accredited certification body, KeBELA Technology is seeking to ease and quicken the process by producing an affordable and user-friendly technology, which can be employed by the certification bodies to cut down the cost of certification and hence ease access to the global organic market by farmers.

KeBELA is a handheld device that is designed to detect and quantify levels of pesticide residues in agricultural products. This innovation is led by Ambrose Kamya, a fourth year BSc. Agriculture student mentored by Prof. Fred Kabi.

This device is linked to a mobile application that automatically receives the test results using Bluetooth and centralizes all the information thereby making farmers visible in the market space as well as aiding government planning and increasing traceability for export.

The use of the mobile application linked to the gadget helps in identifying the farmer physical location by GPS coordinates. The gadget also indicates the farmers’ products tested in real time.

“We are currently working with National Organic Agriculture Movement Uganda (NOGAMU) to create a data bank of all organic farmers who can be traced by their organic produce and physical location.

 The data bank will be updated by the information collected using the gadget and a highway will be used to deliver the updates to the central location.
The exporters and importers of organic products will then be able to access or trace the farmers using the data bank to which NOGAMU will have the key,” Ambrose Kamya the student explained.

This will make it easy for the importers and exporters to access farmers without necessarily visiting their farm physically.  

“We have applied for a national patent to Uganda Registration Services bureau (URSB) and have got a file number. However, due to the high regional demand for the technology within the organic sector, we are applying to ARIPO for a regional patent but financial constraints have deterred the process, Kamya further said.
                           
Proposed design of the KeBELA BIOSENSOR

Proposed design of the KeBELA BIOSENSOR developed by Ambrose Kamya under the mentorship of Prof. Fred Kabi                                 

Kamya was one of the CAES students that exhibited during 26th Source of the Nile Agricultural Show and Trade Fair held from 13th to 22nd July, 2018. The Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries Hon. Vincent Bamulangaki Ssempijja hailed Kamya for the technology and expressed interest to visit the CAES and interact with the students about the future of KeBELA BIOSENSOR.

Why KeBELA BIOSENSOR?

The certification process for organic farmers is expensive. This is partly because the current technologies used for testing farm produce for pesticide residues are not only sophisticated but time consuming. This has scared away many potential organic farmers from seeking certification services even when they follow ecological farming principles.

Such farmers who would be candidates for certification recruitment end up selling their produce to the conventional market thus losing out on premium prices. Therefore, despite the increasing demand for organic agricultural produce both domestically and globally, many Ugandan farmers fail to exploit this great global market opportunity worth 80billion US dollars.

According to NOGAMU, the situation can be improved if user-friendly and affordable technologies for testing pesticide residues can be developed. Since access to organic agricultural market demands that produce has to be certified by an accredited certification body, KeBELA Technology is seeking to ease and quicken the process by producing an affordable and user-friendly technology, which can be employed by the certification bodies to cut down the cost of certification and hence ease access to the global organic market by farmers.

Report compiled by;
Jane Anyango,
Principal Communication Officer, CAES

Mark Wamai

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75th Graduation Highlights

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Front View of the reconstructed Main Building, Makerere University. Date Taken 8th November 2024. Kampala Uganda, East Africa.

The 75th Graduation Ceremony of Makerere University will be held at the Freedom Square. A total of 143 PhDs (64 female, 79 male), 1,813 Masters (768 female, 1,045 male), 243 Postgraduate Diplomas (96 female, 147 male), 11,455 Undergraduate Degrees (6,369 female, 5,086 male), and 8 Undergraduate Diplomas (2 female, 6 male) will be graduating from all the Colleges.

Mr. Abdul Latif Umar Bagoole emerged as the best overall and best student in the Humanities with a CGPA of 4.97 in the Bachelor of Leisure and Hospitality Management. Mr. Mubiru Enock Joel emerged as the best student in the Sciences with a CGPA of 4.91 in the Bachelor of Science.

The 75th Graduation Ceremony will be held at the Freedom Square from Monday 13th to Friday 17th January 2025 following the schedule below:

Monday, 13th January, 2025
College of Computing and Information Sciences (CoCIS)
College of Education and External Studies (CEES)
College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Bio-security (CoVAB)
School of Law (SoL)

Tuesday, 14th January, 2025
College of Health Sciences (CHS)
College of Natural Sciences (CoNAS)
College of Business and Management Sciences (CoBAMS)

Wednesday, 15th January, 2025
Makerere University Business School (MUBS)
Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research
Faculty of Business Administration
Faculty of Tourism, Hospitality and Languages
Faculty of Marketing and International Business
Faculty of Economics, Energy and Management Science
Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management

Thursday, 16th January, 2025
Makerere University Business School (MUBS)
Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research
Faculty of Computing and Informatics
Faculty of Management
Faculty of Commerce
Faculty of Procurement and Logistics Management

Friday, 17th January, 2025
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES)
College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT)
College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHUSS)

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Application for Admission to Bachelor of Education External (BED) 2025/26

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Senate Building

1.        HOW TO APPLY

Application will be online using the AIMS System after getting a pay reference number but you will have to submit certified copies of your Diploma transcripts and certificates and a passport size photograph to office 310, level 3 Senate Building after payment of application fees.

2.        MAKERERE UNIVERSITY ONLINE APPLICATION PORTAL USERGUIDE

  1. Applicants should access the Institution’s Admissions URL http://apply.mak.ac.ug
  2. Sign up using full name, e-mail and Mobile No.  Please note that your name must be similar to the one on your supporting academic documents for your application to be considered valid.  If you changed your names please go to Senate Building Office 301 with an affidavit supporting the name change.
  3. A password will be sent to both your e-mail and mobile number.
  4. The system will prompt you to change the password to the one you can easily remember.
  5. To fill a form the applicant clicks on the APPLY NOW button displayed on the running scheme.
  6. Obtain a payment advice slip by clicking on “Pay for Form” button
  7. Make a payment at any of  bank used by URA
  1. Print the filled form and attach certified copies of your academic documents.

3.        PROCEDURE FOR OBTAINING A PAYMENT REFERENCE NUMBER FOR

            PAYMENT OF APPLICATION FEES

  1. Go the payment reference site: https//:payments.mak.ac.ug
  2. Fill in your name;
  3. Fill in your email;
  • Fill in your telephone number – Go to the next
  • Click on the option number;
  • Application fee is 50,000/=(Undergraduate) continue and get the pay reference number
  • Go to the Bank and pay
  • Go to room 310 Senate Building and submit certified copies of your academic documents.

WARNING

  •      Applicants are strongly warned against presenting forged or other people’s

Academic documents to support their applications for admission.  The                          consequences, if discovered, are very grave indeed.

  •      Do not buy any other documents not originating from the Academic Registrar’s Office.  Those who buy them do so at their own risk.
  •      The Academic Registrar has not appointed any agents to act on his behalf to solicit for additional funds other than the application fee stated above.

The deadline for receiving applications is 28th February 2025.

Prof. Buyinza Mukadasi
ACADEMIC REGISTRAR

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Admissions for Diploma Holders under Government Sponsorship for 2025/2026 AY

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Prof. Buyinza Mukadasi, the Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Affairs)/Academic Registrar, delivers his remarks at the Freedom Square. Freshers Orientation for Academic Year 2024/2025, 5th August 2024. Freedom Square, Makerere University, Kampala Uganda, East Africa.

The Academic Registrar, Makerere University invites applications from Diploma Holders only for admission under the Government Sponsorship Scheme (not exceeding 5% of the intake capacity) to the University Degree Programmes for the 2025/2026 Academic year listed in the Document in the link below.

  • Each applicant should possess at least a Credit or Second Class or equivalent Diploma in a relevant field from a recognised Institution plus a Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) with at least 5 Passes (or its equivalent) and a Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) with at least One Principal Pass and Two Subsidiary Passes obtained at the same sitting (or its equivalent).
  • A non refundable application fee of Shs.50,000/ = (Fifty thousand shillings only)plus the Bank Charge using an ACMIS Pay Reference Number should be paid to any bank used by URA before submitting a system generated application form to the Admissions Office, Room 315 Level 3, in the Senate Building, Makerere University.
  • Certified copies of Diploma Transcripts (not photocopies of certified copies) from the awarding Institutions must be attached to the application forms. Incomplete application forms shall not be processed.
  • Details of the Diplomas required for each programme can be viewed on Undergraduate Admissions Notice Board on Level 3, Senate Building, Makerere University and the University website- www.mak.ac.ug
  • N.B. Applicants will be responsible for verification of their academic documents from the awarding Institutions after admission.
  • Each applicant should also attach a copy of the Birth Certificate to the application form.

The closing date for returning the system generated application forms and certified copies of the academic documents to the University is Friday 28th February, 2025.

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