Adaptive Environmental Monitoring Networks for East Africa

Emmanuel Oyo, AdEMNEA Project’s coordinator at the University of Juba, presented the institute’s Partner Progress Report, which highlighted steady progress despite several challenges. The university has three students under the programme, one PhD and two MSc candidates, all based at Makerere University. Their research focuses on UAV-based agricultural data collection and honeybee diversity in South Sudan. Key achievements include the procurement and testing of drones, training of drone operators, and successful, but logistically-difficult data collection in remote and insecure areas. The project has faced setbacks due to irregular meetings, slow student progress following the expiry of MSc contracts, and the cancellation of an outreach activity after the death of the Ministry of Agriculture’s focal person. Although Juba was scheduled to host the 2024 annual meeting, this was not possible due to logistical constraints. Mr Oyo expressed hope that before the project concludes, the consortium will meet in Juba to experience the university’s environment and ongoing work.

Summary of presentation: University of Juba Partner Progress Report

Presenter: Emmanuel Oyo, Coordinator, Academic Project, University of Juba – School of Applied and Industrial Sciences

Project team and management:
At the university level, the project is coordinated by Mr. Oyo, supported by a gender focal person. Financial management is handled by the Directorate of Finance, while overall oversight lies with the Directorate of Internationally Funded Projects.

Student Progress:

PhD Student (Ben Khemis) – Work Package 1: Algorithmic Optimisation for Data Transmission, Scheduling, and Flight Path for UAVs in Agricultural Sensor Networks.
MSc Student (Oswaha Mathew Joseph) – Work Package 1: Development of an Efficient Path Planning Algorithm for UAV Wireless Sensor Networks in Agricultural Data Collection.
MSc Student (Alison Lokeris) – Work Package 3: Diversity of Honeybee Species in the Equatorial Region of South Sudan.

Key Activities (2023–2025):

Procurement and testing of drones for agricultural data collection in 2023.
Drone operator training sessions successfully conducted.
A data collection exercise by MSc student Alison in South Sudan, which was notably challenging and costly due to insecurity, poor roads, and the remoteness of beekeeping communities.
A project team visit to the University of Juba, during which PIs and coordinators met with university administration and discussed project progress and challenges.

Challenges:

Lack of Regular Project Meetings – making it difficult to track implementation and progress.
Slow Student Progress – two MSc students’ contracts expired in 2024; they continue research without project funding.
Outreach Setbacks – a planned visit to beekeepers, organised with the Ministry of Agriculture, was cancelled following the death of the Director of Food Security, who was the project’s focal person.
Missed Hosting Opportunity – University of Juba was meant to host the 2024 annual meeting, but logistical and security constraints prevented this.

Remarks:
Mr. Oyo expressed optimism that the consortium would one day convene in Juba before the project concludes, to experience firsthand the work and environment at the University of Juba.

MAAIF Collaboration with AdEMNEA Project

Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) – will support the systematic monitoring of fruit fl ies and bee species.

Deputy Vice Chancellor lauds AdEMNEA Initiative

It is a rich project covering a number of areas like Application of ICTs, Agriculture, Beekeeping and the environment in general.

Internet Of Things (IoT)/Sensors

an interconnection via the internet, of computing devices that are embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data. At the heart of IoT are sensors that can measure physical properties.

TUNADO excited about AdEMNEA products

TUNADO supported our poposal writing by giving us a support letter and we hope they will support the monitoring of the species because it is in their core interest. They will also maintain the bee monitoring units during and after the project.

Principal welcomes AdEMNEA Project

The credit from doing a job excellently for five years does not go to an individual, but to the university and the country at large.

Integrated Fruit Control

Most of our farmers are not able to export fruits to Europe and other foreign markets because of the fruit pest that damages over 80% of the crop. The only solution therefore is to have a very strong surveillance program.

RENU pledges to Support the AdEMNEA Project

RENU will provide linkages to similar projects for benchmarking as they are supporting some IoT-based projects and providing connectivity for them

Bee Farming & Honey Production – A Juicy Source of Income/Employment for the Youths.

A TECHNOLOGY-ENABLED FARMING ENVIRONMENT? WE WANT TO BE INVOLVED.

TUNADO, A SAFE HAVEN FOR BEE FARMERS.

AdEMNEA Project Engages Bee Farmers at Apiculture MSP.

THE SMART BEE MONITOR SYSTEM TURNS APICULTURE INTO A MODERN TRADE

‘THE SMART BEE MONITOR SYSTEM MAKES APICULTURE A MODERN TRADE’ SAYS MR. BIRYOMUMAISHO, THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR – TUNADO.

TECHNOLOGY TO INCREASE YIELDS IN LARGE SCALE BEE FARMS

“TECHNOLOGY WILL MASSIVELY IMPACT LARGE SCALE BEE FARMING AND INCREASE YIELDS IN THE LONG RUN” SAYS MRS. BEATRICE – HEAD OF EXPORTS, MINISTRY OF SCIENCE, INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY.

INTERNET OF THINGS (I.o.Ts) HERE TO ENHANCE BEE MONITORING & FRUIT-FLY CONTROL – Dr. Mary Nsabagwa

Internet of Things (I.o.Ts) HERE TO ENHANCE BEE MONITORING & FRUIT-FLY CONTROL – Dr. Mary Nsabagwa.

THE SMART BEE MONITOR – AN ESSENTIAL TOOL FOR MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE ANIMAL INDUSTRY & FISHERIES (MAAIF). Dr. Amulen Deborah (Entomologist - MAK).

PHD/ MASTERS STUDENTS EYE THE
PRIZE!!!WORK PACKAGE ONE (WP1): NETWORKS & RESILIENCE.

WORK PACKAGE ONE (WP1): NETWORKS & RESILIENCE.

Mr. Erick John Machiwa

Khemis Ben

Khemis Ben (lubari7@gmail.com)

Mr. David Tugume

Mr. David Tugume (tdavidjcl@gmail.com)

Mr. Oswaha Matthew Joseph

WORK PACKAGE TWO (WP2): SENSOR & SIGNAL PROCESSING.

Ms. Agatha Turyagyenda

Mr. Arnold Muhairwe

Mr. Florence Lello

Pest Control - Mango fruit growers can finally have maximum fruit yields.

By Mr. Peter Alvin Mukisa & Ms. Rebecca Rugyendo (Communications Desk – AdEMNEA Project)

The Smart Bee-Monitor: A silver lining for Uganda’s bee farmers.

Bee farmers will soon acquire a new way of monitoring their hives, check on the swarming activities and keep track of their product (honey) accumulated in the hives.

As the Adaptive Environmental Monitoring Network for East Africa (AdEMNEA) project enters phase two (2), much more emphasis will be put on customizing the monitoring network to the primary stakeholders such as bee farmers and mango fruit growers in East Africa (particularly Uganda, Tanzania and South Sudan).

COSTECH ready to lend a hand with customer uptake.

“At COSTECH, we pride in translating research outputs into knowledge products and in turn increase customer acceptance, breaking the research outputs into applicable products, commercializing the end product to promote sustainability for the project’s output and enabling resource utilization,” Mr. Mboma, the tech savvy personnel remarked.

Provide Training and Advisory to the beneficiaries of your research outputs – TARI

The Tanzanian Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) offers advisory to government and promote national policies, laws and regulations in addition to conducting basic, applied and strategic agricultural research.

Inter-Task Integration pivotal to timely outputs

The multi-disciplinary aspect of the AdEMNEA project implies that the research outputs are divided into tasks; work packages (WP1, 2 & 3) from a couple of regimen – Computing, Engineering, Entomology, Crop Science and Meteorology.

Climate-focused innovations to thrive under NEMA supervision.

The AdEMNEA project recently participated in the National Science Week hosted by the STI secretariat under the President’s office in Uganda. The participation was by exhibiting some of the innovations (e.g. the smart bee monitor, the automatic weather station, etc…) that have been developed in the IoT-ra lab at Makerere University.

Private Corporate Funds – a Feasible solution to Uganda’s innovations and start-ups.

Presently, Uganda relies on corporate companies such as National Social Security Fund (NSSF), Standard Bank Group (Stanbic Bank, SBG), Uganda Development Bank (UDB), Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) among others who have taken up the role to offer support to start-ups mainly due to the lack of nationalized incubation business centers.

THE SMART-BEE MONITOR: A PILOTING APPROACH OFFERS FRESH SOLUTIONS TO UGANDA’S BEE FARMING.

This modern bee-hive machine has sensors that measure humidity, Temperature, Weight, Sound and capture Image. With the new technology, a farmer or the controller gets information about his/her apiary remotely via mobile phone.

SOUTH SUDAN’s APICULTURE INDUSTRY READY TO BREAK EVEN.

The study will be one of those firsts in South Sudan to characterize bee species using molecular methods.

A GLIMMER OF HOPE FOR SOUTH SUDANESE FOOD CROP FARMERS.

Khemis’ technical contribution to the Adaptive Environment monitoring network will lead to more optimised flight paths and data schedules from ground sensors to the drones. This is critical capacity building in drone technology within the East African region.

FRUIT-FLY EXPOSITORY RESEARCH TAKES UGANDA’S HORTICULTURE TO A BRAND NEW LEVEL.

We hope to develop local alternatives for the growing fruit industry in Uganda.

MULTI-PURPOSE APPROACH PIVOTAL TO PRESERVATION OF HONEY BEE SPECIES.

SUSTAINING A TOXIN-FREE ECO-SYSTEM KEY TO PRESERVING UGANDA’S HONEY BEE.

The research mainly focuses on pests, parasites; parasitoids and pathogens while assessing the role of the environment and the in-hive reservoirs of honeybee pathogens.

WEATHER-BASED RESEARCH – A TIMELY APPROACH TO FRUIT FLY CONCENTRATION AND CONTROL.

The on-going process further aims to examine the prevailing Weather patterns and analyse the farmers’ readiness to handling the fruit fly plague.