• What we do
  • The People
  • About Us
  • Why Innovation Africa
  • Contact Us
Innovation AfricaCreating the Future Today
  • Feature Articles
  • Innovation
  • Agriculture
  • ICT
  • Technology
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Health
  • Store
  • Contact Us
Menu
  • Feature Articles
  • Innovation
  • Agriculture
  • ICT
  • Technology
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Health
  • Store
  • Contact Us
  • Filling up the milk can: Dairy farmers gain from using mobile phones to record yields

    November 18, 2015 Editor 0

    By Omondi Immaculate and Absolomon Kihara

    Mobile phonesA collection of mobile phones used by farmers enrolled for the Ngo’mbe planner system under the EADD project (photo credit: ILRI/Immaculate Omondi)

    The increasing mobile penetration in Sub Saharan Africa, where most households now have access to a mobile phone, is offering unique opportunities for researchers to use mobile-based information systems to make data collection and analysis easier and more efficient across the continent.

    In the East Africa Dairy Development (EADD), a regional project that is helping farmers boost milk and dairy production in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, smallholder dairy farmers who are part of the project’s dairy hubs are set to benefit from an innovative and interactive mobile-based system that allows them to effectively record farm events and have access to information and services that help them enhance the productivity of their livestock.

    ‘Ng’ombe Planner’, a mobile-based tool designed to work with nearly any mobile telephone (handset and mobile service provider), is being used by the project to continuously collect production and reproduction data from farmers as part of the project’s monitoring and evaluation activities in the selected project sites in Kenya and Uganda. In Kenya, the mobile-based system is implemented in collaboration with the Kenya Dairy Farmers Federation, while in Tanzania, the data are collected by livestock extension officers using tablets.

    Monitoring progress toward impact is a key process in many development projects and findings of monitoring exercises inform the effectiveness of the project interventions thereby helping project designers and implementers know where project implementation adjustments are needed. But collecting large amounts of data, such as the one coming through the EADD project has often been difficult to manage for development facilitators like EADD staff.

    A participatory approach to monitoring and evaluation

    Ng’ombe Planner makes this process much easier. The tool ensures timely and effective data collection, data integrity, and timely and effective dissemination of feedback to farmers, and project management team for easier and faster decision-making. Its benefits include enabling data to be collected electronically right at the source (at the household and farm) and sent to a processing server where it is analysed and meaningful figures derived within a short time. In addition, the tool presents an opportunity for development facilitators and researchers to disseminate their project findings as well as information to the farmers directly.

    ‘This tool is improving coordinated interaction between farmers, extension officers and the project management,’ said Immaculate Omondi, a researcher at ILRI who leads the roll out of the tool.

    Ng'ombe planner trainingA dairy farmer (left) is taken through the Ngo’mbe planner system (photo credit: David Karamagi)

    Farmers are first trained to use the system, thus enabling them to take charge of their own production recording of events such as for feeding, milking, animal health and breeding information. This information is then analysed by EADD project researchers and the results are shared with farmers through the same mobile phones.

    This way, the farmers are exposed to accurate information regarding performance of their livestock and can use the feedback to improve their husbandry practices. Furthermore, Ng’ombe Planner improves links between actors in the value chain. For example, some information deduced from the farmers’ data such as records of disease incidences and signs of oestrus are instantaneously shared with the extension officers for prompt assistance to the farmers, if needed.

    Extension officers working with the project are using the tool to disseminate important information, such as on disease epidemics or vaccination campaigns and are notified immediately a farmer records an adverse farm event, such as disease incidence, so that they can take steps to assist affected farmers.

    A flexible cheaper method of monitoring productivity

    The tool is translated to the local languages, making it versatile enough for use in different communities while ensuring that the farmers are able to understand and use it with ease. The collected data is automatically saved on an online server where high level analysis takes place and meaningful information and analysis are extracted. This information is channeled back to the farmers as feedback.

    So far, the Ng’ombe planner system has been well received by farmers in the study sites. A total of 496 farmers under the EADD project are now registered on the platform, 308 farmers in Uganda while 188 farmers were recruited in Kenya.

    Filed under: CRP37, Dairying, East Africa, ILRI, Kenya, LGI, Project, Tanzania Tagged: EADD
    Go to Source

    Related Posts

    • Basic Mobile Internet Skills Training ToolkitBasic Mobile Internet Skills Training Toolkit
    • East African dairy farmers using mobile phones to record yieldsEast African dairy farmers using mobile phones to record yields
    • Is Facebook Zero the Future of Public Internet Access?Is Facebook Zero the Future of Public Internet Access?
    • Mobile health targets women, yet many don’t have mobile phonesMobile health targets women, yet many don’t have mobile phones
    • Africa: Mobile Phones On the Rise in Africa, Internet Use Inching UpAfrica: Mobile Phones On the Rise in Africa, Internet Use Inching Up
    • Mobile-powered and dirt cheap, Bima is revolutionizing microinsurance
    Sovrn
    Share

    Categories: Agriculture

    Tags: Dairy farmers, mobile phones, record yields

    Check Out Inveneo’s New Solar Powered Digital Library Kit Marcelo Coelho and Colin Raney on 3D printing and the digital manufacturing revolution

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    You must be logged in to post a comment.

Subscribe to our stories


 

Recent Posts

  • Entrepreneurial Alertness, Innovation Modes, And Business Models in Small- And Medium-Sized Enterprises December 30, 2021
  • The Strategic Role of Design in Driving Digital Innovation June 10, 2021
  • Correction to: Hybrid mosquitoes? Evidence from rural Tanzania on how local communities conceptualize and respond to modified mosquitoes as a tool for malaria control June 10, 2021
  • BRIEF FOCUS: Optimal spacing for groundnuts in smallholder farming systems June 9, 2021
  • COVID-19 pandemic: impacts on the achievements of Sustainable Development Goals in Africa June 9, 2021

Categories

Archives

Popular Post-All time

  • A review on biomass-based... 1k views
  • Apply Now: $500,000 for Y... 798 views
  • Can blockchain disrupt ge... 797 views
  • Test Your Value Propositi... 749 views
  • Prize-winning projects pr... 722 views

Recent Posts

  • Entrepreneurial Alertness, Innovation Modes, And Business Models in Small- And Medium-Sized Enterprises
  • The Strategic Role of Design in Driving Digital Innovation
  • Correction to: Hybrid mosquitoes? Evidence from rural Tanzania on how local communities conceptualize and respond to modified mosquitoes as a tool for malaria control
  • BRIEF FOCUS: Optimal spacing for groundnuts in smallholder farming systems
  • COVID-19 pandemic: impacts on the achievements of Sustainable Development Goals in Africa
  • Explicit knowledge networks and their relationship with productivity in SMEs
  • Intellectual property issues in artificial intelligence: specific reference to the service sector
  • Africa RISING publishes a livestock feed and forage production manual for Ethiopia
  • Transforming crop residues into a precious feed resource for small ruminants in northern Ghana
  • Photo report: West Africa project partners cap off 2020 with farmers field day events in Northern Ghana and Southern Mali

Tag Cloud

    africa African Agriculture Business Business model Business_Finance Company Crowdsourcing data Development East Africa economics Education Entrepreneur entrepreneurs Entrepreneurship ethiopia ghana Health_Medical_Pharma ict Information technology Innovation kenya knowledge Knowledge Management Leadership marketing mobile Mobile phone nigeria Open innovation Organization Research rwanda science Science and technology studies social enterprise social entrepreneurship south africa Strategic management strategy tanzania Technology Technology_Internet uganda

Categories

Archives

  • A review on biomass-based hydrogen production for renewable energy supply 1k views
  • Apply Now: $500,000 for Your Big Data Innovations in Agriculture 798 views
  • Can blockchain disrupt gender inequality? 797 views
  • Test Your Value Proposition: Supercharge Lean Startup and CustDev Principles 749 views
  • Prize-winning projects promote healthier eating, smarter crop investments 722 views

Copyright © 2005-2020 Innovation Africa Theme created by PWT. Powered by WordPress.org