Mr. Bureau awards Mary Gladys
Bayer East Africa in collaboration with JKUAT introduced BAYER INNOVATION COMPETATION to engage students to come up with innovative technology solutions to solve problems faced by small scale farmers in Kenya.
Three students from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) were on September 27, 2018 rewarded after clinching top honours in the coveted Bayer innovation competition. Under the initiative, students were required to come up with innovative ideas that would be implemented in the agriculture sector.
Mellany Metah, Mary Gladys Waweru and Brian Pondi who were first second and third respectively, were selected after beating over 50 contestants in a thesis themed ‘Addressing Smallholder Farming Challenges through Innovations’ which was submitted to Bayer East Africa Limited and vetted by the Price Waterhouse Coopers Limited on potential actualization of the projects.
Mellany Metah, a fifth year Electrical and Electronics Engineering student, was awarded with a recognition trophy, a three-month internship program at both Bayer East Africa limited and its headquarters in Germany, while also receiving grants for implementing her project.
Mary Gladys Waweru, a fourth year undergraduate student of Information Technology will also undertake a three-month internship program at Bayer East Africa besides a Ksh. 50,000 cheque. She came up with a mobile image recognition application that captures plant diseases by taking a picture and gives proper curative and preventive measures a farmer should take to solve the problem and suggested treatment chemicals.
Gladys(Left) and Mellanay pose with their cheque of Khs. 50,000
About Mary Gladys Mkulima mobile application
It is a mobile application that captures crop diseases by just taking a picture. It incorporates artificial intelligence and image recognition Apis to add on this feature. The app then detects the type of crop disease and gives relevant preventive and curative measures that the farmer should take and advice on treatment of chemicals.
Brian Pondi, who is a Computer Systems postgraduate student, received a recognition trophy and Ksh. 25,000 cheque for his idea of creating location-aware recommender system for seed varieties and crop types, which combines Geographic Information Systems and Artificial Intelligence to notify farmers which crops to plant and the best seed varieties for maximum yield.
Bayer East Africa Managing Director, Mr. Eric Bureau, congratulated all the participants for taking up the challenge; while lauding the partnership for improving the livelihood of small holder farming and boosting food security in the country.
“This initiative co-relates with our vision of promoting training of the youth to solve the needs of the small holder farmers through the private sector. With this partnership, we are able to improve lives through innovations and boost food security in the country,” said Mr. Bureau
Addressing the scholars, Deputy Registrar, Academic Affairs, Mr. J. M Kamau, who was representing the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Victoria Wambui Ngumi, also congratulated all the participants and called for more similar initiatives which directly benefit the students and the country.
“It is my pleasure to witness this occasion which is a critical moment for the students. I would specifically like to thank Bayer for their effort in addressing the livelihoods of majority of the Kenyans through this initiative,” said Mr. Kamau
Present during award ceremony was Mr. Phillip Oyier, the Coordinator of the initiative and Mr. Anthony Maina, Head of Communications and Public Affairs, Bayer East Africa Ltd.
That proves what can come out from jkuat ,a great school and valuable one.Congrats to the great minds for great thoughts ,believing that they are the investors of the future
Am proud to be part and parcel of this great institution, keep the fire burning men and lots of congratulations