NAIROBI, Sept. 18 (Xinhua)--If she wants to grow any crop these days, Grace Nanjala, a farmer in Uasin Gishu County in northwest Kenya, normally goes to her phone to check a variety of things.
Among them is the specific variety to grow, the pests to look out for, the fertilizer to use and various agronomic practices.
The farmer has downloaded different agro mobile apps into her phone, which she consults for various informing.
"Through one of the apps, I also take inputs loan either in form of fertilizer or seeds which I pick from a specific agrovet shop in the nearby Eldoret town," said Nanjala on phone on Wednesday.
Later when her crops grow, she is also able to monitor prices of the produce in markets in western Kenya using a mobile app before she makes decision on where to sell.
Nanjala, 38, is one of the many digital farmers across the east African nation, who now virtually rely on their smartphones to perform various farm activities.
From knowing if a cow is on the heat when to serve it, when to plant, how to apply fertilizer, which crop varieties to grow when it will rain and how to eliminate diseases and pests, mobile apps are providing all the answers to Kenyan farmers at the click of a button.
The apps, some of which are downloaded for free, and are offered by both government and private sector have ushered a new digital era for millions of farmers.
"I no longer need to keep writing on my calendar when my cow calved down last to estimate when I should serve it. Everything is now in an app that I have on my phone," said Bernard Kirui, a dairy farmer based in Kiambu County.
Using a mobile app, he is able to effortlessly monitor his animals' breeding and production.
Kenya's leading telecom Safaricom is among farms in the East African nation which have moved to cash in on growing use of agro mobile apps.
The firm has developed a mobile agro app called DigiFarm, which offers smallholder farmers agriculture information and financial services.
Fred Kiio, the head of agribusiness, said the company came up with the app to fill an existing gap especially among small-scale farmers where most struggled to access finance, information, market and farm inputs.
"About a million farmers are currently using the app, and we have also opened 118 depots countrywide to serve them," said Kiio, highlighting the digital farming wave sweeping across Kenya.
The Ministry of Agriculture is among those disseminating agro information that targets both smartphone and feature phone users.
"Plant at the beginning of the rainy season. Banana suckers need 4-6 months of growth without water stress to establish well," says the ministry it is currently sending to farmers this season.
Mwaso observed that digital technology is the future of many sectors and agriculture is not an exception.
Bernard Mwaso of Edell IT Solution said that Kenya has been struggling for years with low agro extension coverage, but mobile apps are now filling the gap.
"The good thing is that one does need to have a smartphone to access information because even with feature phones, they still get what they need by using code," he said.
"Just as in other sectors like banking where information technology has transformed services, the agriculture industry in Kenya is being revolutionized, with entrepreneurs building multimillion-dollar industry based on mobile apps that link farmers to financial services, market, experts and agro-input dealers."
