This archive report was first published on 3 August 2019.
Published on August 3, 2019, by Francis Mureithi, Nation.
Kenya's agriculture sector is yet to fully embrace the use of information to boost production. Dr Gabriel Rugalema, Food and Agriculture Organisation Kenya's representative, spoke to Francis Mureithi on why data should be prioritised in food production.
Dr Rugalema noted that the lack of agriculture data has led to haphazard allocation of resources to the critical agriculture docket. This is because there is no data on the number of farmers in a given location and what they need to plant and what they are farming.
He added that there is no information on fertiliser requirements and quantity to be supplied, resulting in guesswork in resource allocation. Investors in the value chain need the data to make decisions on where and how much investment to put in.
According to Dr Rugalema, having spatial data is a constitutional requirement in Kenya. Anyone doing county integrated development plan without geographical data is breaking the law.
Dr Rugalema also highlighted the importance of call centres in offering agro-extension services. He noted that the world is moving towards digital economy operations and call centres are the nerve of agriculture where farmers can call in, send photographs of their diseased plants and animals for the experts to identify and give them real-time and instant advice.
He added that the farmers would not have to walk miles coming to see an extension worker. This saves time, money and improves efficiency in food production at the grass roots level where smallholder farmers are grappling with emerging challenges to sustain their ventures.
Dr Rugalema also noted that ICT is a game-changer in agriculture. The world is moving towards electronic extension. The good thing about ICT is that you can maintain and sustain communication with the farmers and advise them through social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter or you e-mail them directly.
He added that manual agriculture surveys, which are expensive, and time-consuming would be a thing of the past if e-extension takes root. Dr Rugalema noted that they are currently piloting with Nakuru County the e-extension services and they intend to go to nine other devolved units.
Dr Rugalema described the status of agriculture data collection in Kenya as 'terribly expensive and unreliable.' He noted that Kenya depends on agriculture census, which was done many decades ago. They also depend on uncoordinated surveys. These surveys give insights but don’t give good information for planning.
Dr Rugalema added that FAO is pushing for the use of satellite data, which is precise and can be seen from 800km from the sky. It is able to give us all the information on our farms including the number of crops planted, their situation, fodder for animals and based on that data one can make quick and informed decision that will give early warning on crop failure, harvest expected and pest management.
