Samuel Kamya, founder of Eska app, explains how it works. PHOTO | COURTESY
Kenyan farmers can increase their annual profits by between 7.1
per cent and 76.3 per cent with the use of digital farming technologies
that can be helpful in keeping records and monitoring crop and livestock
health, according to a 2015 research conducted by UK innovation
foundation Nesta.
Such technologies, which include mobile applications, enhance farming activities and improve yields.
Therefore,
government institutions such as the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock
Research Organisation (Kalro) and industry experts are driving the
adoption of these tools in a bid to reduce post-harvest losses through
provision of timely and accurate information directly to the farmers’
phones.
Eska, a mobile app developed by botanist and
biochemist Samuel Kamya, is used to detect crop diseases and deficiency
of important nutrients such as phosphorus.
It was launched in August 2017, at a time when Sh150 billion
worth of produce went to waste in the country due to pest infestation
and inadequate market access.
“As a botanist, I
understand the problems that farmers go through in order to benefit from
farming; they have to overcome pest infestation, attack by diseases and
a lack of nutrients. These problems can be solved by using software, so
we developed an app that is powered by artificial intelligence,” said
Kamya.
Once installed on an android smartphone, the
user taps its icon, which accesses the smartphone’s camera. When pointed
to a plant under investigation, it displays the results on the screen.
By monitoring crops, the user is able to quarantine and deal with the
infection decisively.
Users can also choose to destroy
infected plants before they spread the disease any further sparing the
uninfected crops. In order to monitor the health of poultry such as
chicks, a digital brooder can come in handy. Arinifu, a technology
company based in Nairobi develops the devices.
It is
made up of a small analogue computer, some sensors and infrared lamps
that can be used to monitor chicks brooding space and relay real-time
information to the farmer through short message services (SMS).
This
enables farmers to monitor the condition of the chicks and adjust them
accordingly, predict the risk of disease infection, as well as suggest
the right time for vaccination.
In this, farmers are
able to prevent any infections or unfavourable conditions for the
chicks. “Currently, we only deal with farmers in Nairobi and Kiambu
County targeting about 40,000 poultry farmers as we look for more means
to spread our services in the whole country,” said George Chege, an
agronomist at Arinifu.
Besides monitoring health, these
digital advancements can also help farmers source for markets for their
produce. Soko+, an online digital commodity trading and information
system, has linked more than 16,594 Meru farmers to bulk buyers across
the country enabling them to earn more income and improve their
livelihoods.
“We encourage farmers to aggregate their
produce in bulk through formation of groups so as to improve their
bargaining power in the negotiation process and earn better prices by
reaching into desirable markets,” said Martin Murangari, the Operations
Manager at Soko+.
However, farmers still face some
challenges that limit their access to new technologies. “We have
released that many farm management mobile apps are frequently accessed
by users in developed countries instead of Kenya farmers due to a lack
of Internet access,” said Simon Mulwa, ICT officer at Kalro.
- African Laughter
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