“Mechanization is the future of agriculture, and as engineers, we are well placed to realize this,” says Peter Okoci Samuel, a final year Bachelor student in Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) in Uganda.

“We are motivated to come up with the ‘Smart Kuku Brooder system’, a device to solve one of the biggest problems facing the farmers, high chick mortality due to poor regulation of temperature,” explained Peter. Their ingenious brainchild, Smart Kuku Brooder, redefines poultry farming in local households by automatically regulating temperature to provide optimal conditions for chick rearing.

Winning the 1^st prize at the Agro-Entrepreneurship Challenge at MUST, the five young engineering minds set out to introduce cutting-edge innovations to the agriculture landscape and foster job opportunities for youth in Uganda and beyond. 

The Smart Kuku Brooder team is empowered by skills development initiatives at MUST in partnership with China Funds-in-Trust Phase III: Higher technical education in Africa for a technical and innovative workforce (CFIT III). Through entrepreneurship-based curriculum and hands-on training, the university equips its graduates to become change-makers driving national development.