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Two students in Kenya pledge to curb country’s chronic famine with a mobile app

Two students in Kenya have developed a new mobile phone application called M-SHAMBA set to link farmers in rural Africa with timely information from industry experts, researchers, meteorological departments and other agricultural agencies.

M-SHAMBA aims at digitising Africa’s agriculture to help government agencies solve incidences of food shortage, said Calvins Okello, a student at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).

Gordon Owiti, also from JKUAT, told HumanIPO the new technology would re-brand farming, making it a knowledge-based undertaking that covers all levels of the society, based on the latest technology initiatives.

M-SHAMBA, the two say, will empower farmers with the latest studies and information from the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), and up to date weather updates from the Kenya Meteorological Department.

Okello added that the application enables farmers stay in touch with relevant information on various aspects of farming.

The new technology has been developed with the sole intention of enticing the youth and those in professional cadres that agriculture can be technologically savvy and is ‘cool.’ It is a more cost-effective way of allowing the researchers to see the outcomes of their work, Owiti added.

Okello said the app also helps the farmers to sell online “by notifying the market about the farm produce. Farmers are able to connect with buyers from great distances.”

The app enables the farmers to receive the latest information on cattle rearing techniques. It also offers the farmers a chance to bargain for the highest price for their produce by placing their produce in the online platform.

The in addition enables the farmers to manage their farm records by entering the date of planting into an automated database, from where they are able to receive short messages and reminders about when to plant, based on the meteorological data findings.

The information, obtained directly from certified research agencies, is stored in a chip in the phone memory thus enabling farmers review references in case they forget anything.

Failures witnessed within the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) in Kenya, which despite receiving too much crop deliveries — from Kilgoris, a fertile region in the Rift Valley, was unable to supply it other places that suffered from the food shortages, inspired the development of the app, Okello said.

Prevalent food shortages have often faced the East African country. Besides the chronic food shortages in the country’s northern regions, various regions experience surplus food production, which according to Okello, lack of information perish instead of being transferred to regions with shortages.

In 2002, USAID reported that more than 10 million Kenyans faced starvation. The organisation warned of widespread food shortages if famine control measures were not observed.

Okello said: “There is biting food shortages in Kenya. We are trying to alleviate this problem by delivering the information to the farmers.”

To make the product more easily accessible to the farmers, the two innovators are currently investing in translating research papers into the more popularly spoken Kiswahili language.

The SMS will cost the farmers KSh3 above normal operator charges.

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