Precision agriculture by Mwangi Mumero
Kenyan investors are being sought to partner with an
Indian company to provide IT based agricultural extension services.
With the poor agricultural extension service across
Africa, an Indian company is introducing an IT solution that links up farmers, meteorological
department, satellite imaging and agricultural experts from the comfort of
their sitting rooms.
“We are allowing farmers to participate in seeking
solutions to their farming issues by linking them with experts without leaving
their farms. Together with data obtained from the Met department and satellite
images, possible solutions on various issues can then be communicated back to
the farmer via GPS”, observed Mr. Prasenjit Gupta, a lead technician at
Stesalit Limited, an India firm behind this precision agriculture solution
during an interview at a recent Food Expo at the Kenyatta International
Conference Centre (KICC).
But for the farmers to benefit from this solution,
they will be required to purchase a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) a
hand-held device similar to a mobile phone that is connected to a GPS network.
GSM is a satellite based communication network –similar
to GSM used by local mobile service providers- but with a wider reach.
The farmers will also need to register their farms
and then subscribe to this agricultural information service offered by the
company.
“Currently, we sell the GSM PDA at $ 690 (Ksh
60,000) with all the accompanying software. In India, we have been selling
these devices and service to the state governments which are the sole providers
and regulators of agricultural extension services”, noted Mr Gupta adding that
the company is looking for a Kenyan company to partner with and offer the
service directly to farmers.
This
form of precision agriculture incorporates the PDA, intelligently processed
satellite images displaying plant health parameters status such as fertilizer usage;
data from sensors in the farms that provided information on possible pest or
insect attack; and a decision support system for providing suggestion to
farmers based on the input received from the above components.
The system seeks agricultural experts-mainly on
retainer basis – to provide interpretations on various data obtained from farmers,
met department and sensors in the field.
For instance, a farmer in Kitale- over 500 km from
Nairobi may feel that they need information on the expected maize yield in the
year even before they have established the crop.
“With the PDA, the farmers will input relevant data
such as size of the land, maize variety they want to grow, the yield they
obtained the year before etc.
They will then send the information through to a
central computer system which has satellite information on Kitale and specific
area the farmer comes from. The satellite image has information such as soil type,
Ph, etc.
Information from the weather department will also be
used to project rainfall, temperature and other parameters within the planting
season. With this information, agricultural experts will be able to analyze and
give possible scenarios to the farmers which will allow the farmer to make informed
decision on the way forward”, explained Mr Gupta.
The collection of information, analysis and feedback
is provided directly to the farmers without them making the arduous journey to
Nairobi or other research stations.
At an extra expense, a farmer may install sensors
within the farm that will provide real-time information on possible disease and
pest attack allowing farmers to make corrective measures in advance- lowering risk
and improving profits. Experts will use this information to advice farmers on
different pesticides to use, their costs and hazards.
“This Decision Support System therefore integrates
information from farmers, satellite images from the farms, weather reports from
the metrological department. Agricultural experts then analyze the information
and give farmers answers vital in decision making”, he said noting that in
Indian, the company has dealt only with the government which has purchased the
PDAs and given them to farmers. The government also hires experts to interpret
data and provide farmers with the information they need in their farms.
According to Mr Gupta, the company is seeking a
Kenya company that will partner with them.
“We will provide the PDAs and other software while
the local company will hire experts to interpret the raw data and give farmers
feedback on time. Since it is a subscription service, a local company will be
able to make profit from the service if well marketed”, he said.
The Kenyan company will also seek out farmers
through aggressive marketing campaigns.
This West Bengal based company will then maintain
the system’s hardware and software for the next 6 years. (ends)
No comments:
Post a Comment