Ntare School‘s project titled “Up Farm” was presented at the ICT Clubs Innovations Competitions during the National Conference on Communications. The School also emerged victorious in the Western Region beating highly competitive Schools such as Mbarara High School, St. Joseph’s Vocational School, and Bubangizi Secondary School. The Master Teacher leading mentoring of this ICT Club is Justus Mubangizi.
Overview of Ntare School Up-farm
Agriculture being the backbone of Uganda’s economy is a song that has been sung for years; What other way to end hunger and poverty. However, land; a primary resource for agriculture is becoming scarce day by day and more expensive as well. The Residential Property Price Index (RPPI) for GKMA registered a 9.7 percent increase for the calendar year 2020 from 1.2 percent recorded during the calendar year 2019. The maximization of the small land that people possess and the extra resources that come along with is what Ntare School’s ICT club looked at as far as Sustainable Development Goals: 1(No Poverty), 2 (Zero Hunger), 7(Affordable and clean energy), 9(Industry, innovation, and infrastructure), and 15(Life on land) are concerned.
The UPFARM structures operate as a multipurpose system at different levels accounting for different practices for example the ground level could have light livestock (small scale), light poultry on the first floor partitioned to even include rabbits, and non-light dependent crops like Mushrooms, and beansprouts among others. The layout is flexible hence is capable of being modified on a preference basis. The structure is SMART providing; 24/7 monitoring of moisture levels, and heat levels linked to your mobile phone– all maintaining effective production and minimizing risks. A sliding roof to cater for some light dependent crops/vegetables that may be added.
The UPFARM comes in; as the concept of “up living” in skyscrapers was adapted for people, Ntare ICT club, therefore, presents the same concept for Agriculture. A model was to be designed to illustrate how possible, efficient and economic friendly this concept is. It aimed at maximizing the limited land and resources like Solar energy. Solar energy is the source of energy but adjusted to make it mobile relative to the suns motion using trackers.
The UPFARM structures operates as a multipurpose system at different levels accounting for different practices for example the ground level could have light livestock (small scale), light poultry on the first floor partitioned to even include rabbits, non-light dependent crops like Mushrooms, and beansprouts among others. The layout is flexible hence is capable of being modified on preference basis. The structure is SMART providing; 24/7 monitoring of moisture levels, heat levels linked to your mobile phone– all maintaining effective production and minimizing risks. A sliding roof to cater for some light-dependent crops/vegetables that may be added.