Extension services now just a tap away for Nandi farmers

Philip Kibet, a dairy farmer, tends to his calves in Soimining, Nandi County. He uses a customised digital system to feed the calves. [Stephen Rutto, Standard]

Access to accurate information on crop and livestock management, changing weather patterns, and marketing is a major hurdle for farmers venturing into new value chains.

Farmers are often driven to desperation, and in most cases, obtaining timely information is a nightmare for food producers.

According to most farmers, information on crop and livestock management, as well as accurate weather advisories, often comes when it is too late.

But a digital system designed by Sila Serem, an agricultural extension officer in Nandi County, alongside technicians, is helping farmers receive customised information based on their value chains.

Under the sponsored digital extension service, farmers register themselves and their agricultural value chains, from specific crop production to livestock keeping and marketing.

Afterwards, they receive personalised information that guides them through their production cycle.

Philip Kibet, a dairy farmer in Soimoning, Mosop Sub-County, who enrolled for information on calf rearing, is beginning to register results.

After registering early this year for information that guides him through every stage of rearing healthy calves, Kibet says he is winning one battle after another in his mission to prevent malnutrition and diseases in his livestock.

He says the information, which guides him on feeding his calves and maintaining health standards, is sent to his mobile phone and is designed to guide him at every stage of the calves’ growth.

“When I ventured into dairy farming about five years ago, rearing calves to mature cows was a major problem. Unfortunately, I lost two calves because I lacked information to keep them healthy,” says Kibet.

“I relied on Google search to get information on the right feeding regimens and disease prevention, but I discovered that I was depending on general information. I registered on the free digital extension service and received information, and I’m getting constant information on rearing my calves step-by-step until maturity.”

In a message Kibet received recently, the agricultural extension model developed by Agriventa, a farming advisory firm, advised the farmer to feed his two-week-old calf with four to six litres of milk per day.

“The extension system also tells me when to deworm and how to introduce my calves to dry feeds and pellets. One time, my calves fed on green grass and became malnourished. The free information has made farming practical,” says Kibet.

Eliab Tirop has stopped travelling several kilometres away to either Chepterwai Ward offices or Mosop Sub-County headquarters in search of agricultural extension officers.

Tirop, a retired public servant, has been a maize and livestock farmer for more than 30 years, and venturing into coffee, which is his retirement cash crop, last year made him begin a frantic search for information.

He says he got information about coffee farming at local agricultural shows, but the messages were inadequate and not personalised.

“I often travelled to offices to physically look for agricultural extension officers. At times, I made many telephone calls to officers whenever I faced challenges. I’m currently getting the information I have been looking for on my mobile phone and from the comfort of my home. I only follow the advisory,” the farmer says.

“The new digital agricultural extension service is making it easy. I didn’t know that I have to apply 50-100 grams of fertiliser around my coffee for healthy growth and higher yields when the crop matures.”

Bezalel Mosop opted for information on the ever-changing weather patterns, and his phone is now full of monthly advisories on what he should do to mitigate the effects of rainfall shortages and heavy rainfall.

From his Kapchebosi farm in Nandi, Mosop, a mixed farmer, has, since March this year, been receiving information about when to harvest his near-mature maize at a time when El Niño rains are expected.

“When dry weather conditions are expected, I get a text message asking me to build water pans. The water storage pits will then help me to irrigate my coffee farm and still harvest crops such as sweet potatoes during the dry season. You get education for free,” says Mosop.

He has already built three water pans for his coffee and short-season crops, including sweet potatoes and beans, after an advisory from Agriventa Agricultural Service.

Additionally, Mosop recently received information about a new coffee market.

“I got information about the nearest coffee market in Kapsabet. Initially, I sold my coffee to middlemen at Sh400 per kilogram. The new market offers an average of Sh900 per kilo.”

Like Mosop, Edwin Maiyo uses the new agricultural system to find markets for Juancao grass, red Napier and other livestock feeds.

Serem, who invented the new system, says the service converts approved agricultural recommendations from recognised research and extension institutions into advisories for farmers.

Serem says the information sent to farmers is sourced from KALRO and the Ministry of Agriculture, among other sources, and packaged into actionable advisories using Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools.

He says the technical information from government entities is transformed into practical messages that farmers can easily understand and apply on their farms.

The extension officer says he borrowed the idea from Korea, where he attended a capacity-building programme at the Asan City Agricultural Technology Centre in August last year.

A month later, he teamed up with technicians Clara Jepleting and Zipporah Jerop, and ICT assistant Winnie Cheruto, to develop the system for Kenyan farmers.

“By combining lessons from Korea’s farmer-centred digital extension approach, India’s large-scale mKisan SMS model, AI-assisted content adaptation, and sponsored digital delivery, the model is designed to deliver timely, localised and actionable agricultural information to farmers without disrupting normal farming routines,” he says.

According to the innovator, 31,000 farmers have registered for advisories.

He says the new system will not do away with agricultural extension services but instead supplement their work.