Cell phones revolutionizing Kenya’s livestock sector

A goat herd in Somaliland by NatGeo

A new mobile technology has revolutionised live stock farming by pastrolist communities in Kenya.

The technology, which sends alerts for livestock diseases between farmers and veterinarians, will also issues alerts quickly about possible animal disease outbreaks and track wide-scale vaccination campaigns.

Using Global Positioning System (GPS) the technology helps to pinpoint with accuracy and speed early warning signs for animal disease outbreaks in a matter of seconds instead of weeks.

The application, EpiCollect, will help detect animal diseases quickly and these early warning can prevent death of tens of thousands of animals, thus safeguarding livelihoods and food security, and preventing diseases that can sometimes be passed to humans.

 “The mobile phone technology aid in reporting animal disease outbreaks, tracking vaccination campaigns and delivery of veterinary treatments, such as de-worming animals,” said Robert Allport, FAO Kenya’s Assistant Representative for Programme Implementation.

“Cellular phones eliminate delays in receiving field data, since all the information is relayed via the mobile network, after the information is assigned a geographic location to be extremely accurate and available in real-time,” Allport said.

The mobile application is funded by FAO, the Royal Veterinary College and local NGO Vetaid to also track animals’ medical history via the mobile Web

In a press statement FAO says the project has been successful in Kenya where three out of four people now have a mobile phone and more Kenyans are upgrading to Internet-enabled phones and prices for the technology inevitably come down.

Although only a third of Kenyans have access to the Internet at present, 99 percent of those Internet subscriptions are for access from a mobile phone which made the project viable.

EpiCollect is set to do away with what has been happening some five years ago when veterinarians would have to travel to remote locations, record data, and then travel back to district-level offices to process the paperwork.

“Now data is transmitted real time and includes total number of livestock in a herd, number of animals vaccinated and herd movement during search of pasture and water which is regularly update and stored online,” FAO said.

The EpiCollect database is not searchable in online search engines which keeps sensitive information safe and can only be accessed by national vertinary officers and field vets who are assigned unique location code for each project.

“Presently EpiCollect is only being used by field veterinarians with phones provided by Google Kenya for the testing phase but it will be available to village elders and well-established networks of community animal health workers,” it said.

FAO is also set to use the same technology for better link to livestock producers with markets and livestock traders.

“Traders and sellers can relay information to central point about how many animals they have to make markets function efficiently with transparent pricing and collective bargains,” FAO Kenya’s Allport said.

The same technology has been used by FAO’s, Oxfam and Nokia using Nokia Data Gathering (NDG) to monitor water points in pastoralist areas as an early warning indicator for drought in Kenya and Ethiopia where communities monitor water levels regularly via Internet-enabled phones.

In the Karamoja area of neighbouring Uganda, the same NDG system is being used by local chiefs to monitor drought indicators to allow for early response.

Manuel Odeny © 2013

Ethiopian farmers to get market boost through irrigation project

Farm under irrigation in Ethiopia

Ethiopian farmers will benefit from a multi-million irrigation scheme in a value chain improvement project.
 

The  CAD 19.26 million will directly and indirectly benefit more than 200,000 households engaged in livestock and irrigated agriculture, improve the skills of over 5,000 public service staff, and work with 2,100 value chain input and service suppliers at district, zone and federal levels.

The new research for development project named Livestock and Irrigation Value chains for Ethiopian Smallholders – LIVES was launched today by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), both members of the CGIAR Consortium.

It seeks to directly support of the Government of Ethiopia’s effort to transform smallholder agriculture to be more market-oriented.

“This project is unique in that it integrates livestock with irrigated agriculture development and is designed to support the commercialization of smallholder agriculture by testing and scaling lessons to other parts of Ethiopia,” LIVES project manager, Azage Tegegne emphasized .

The manager added that it will be an excellent opportunity for CGIAR centres to work hand in hand with Ethiopian research and development institutions.”

During the launch the Ethiopian State Minister of Agriculture Wondirad Mandefro welcomed the project as a direct contribution to both the Growth Transformation Plan (GTP) and the Agricultural Growth Program (AGP) of the Ethiopian Government.

“We expect this investment to generate technologies, practices and results that can be implemented at larger scales and ultimately benefit millions of Ethiopian smallholder producers as well as the consumers of their products,” Canadian Head of Aid, Amy Baker

Canada which funds the project expect it to contribute to Ethiopia’s efforts to drive agricultural transformation, improve nutritional status and unlock sustainable economic growth through creation of  new and innovative partnerships that will drive agricultural growth.

The project will take place over six years in 31 districts of ten zones in Amhara, Oromia, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples and Tigray regions, where 8% of the country’s human population resides to improve the incomes of smallholder farmers through value chains development in livestock (dairy, beef, sheep and goats, poultry and apiculture) and irrigated agriculture (fruits, vegetables and fodder).

"Projects that support local farmers can help a community in so many ways; not only by providing food and the most appropriate crops, but also by teaching long term skills that can have an impact for years to come," said Canada Minister of International Cooperation the Honourable Julian Fantino.

The project will focus on clusters of districts, developing and improving livestock production systems and technologies in animal breeding, feed resources, animal nutrition and management, sustainable forage seed systems, sanitation and animal health, and higher market competitiveness.

The launch was also attended by Canadian Ambassador to Ethiopia David Usher, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and several Ethiopian government institutes.

©Manuel Odeny

4.7 million Kenyans benefit from free Tsetse fly project

A man making a tsetse fly trap 

Over 4.7million Kenyans are no longer at a risk of contracting sleeping sickness after African Development Bank (AfDB) project to create a sustainable ad free tsetse fly and trypanomiasis areas.

The Sh859 million project started in 2001 covered three project areas in Mwea Game Reserve area in Meru, Ruma National Park in Lake Victoria region and Lake Bogoria Game reserve which covered over 24,000km2 of land.

“The project which ended in 2010 involved mass-rearing of tsetse flies, sequential release of gamma-radiated sterile males to curb reproduction and traainnig of over 6,000 community members in involvement in baseline data collection and processing,” AfDB said in their report.

Other methods involved using community crush pens and tsetse fly traps and use of insecticides and logistical support to in head offices in Kisumu, Nakuru and Embu by offering six motor vehicles and 10 motorcycles among other items.

Equaly locals and cattle were treated for any symptoms of sleeping sickness and farmers trained on eradication and farming techniques.

“The project’s aim was to end tsetse fly and trypanomiasis risk which was a serious obstacle to poverty reduction and food security and ease difficulties experienced by people infected areas in obtaining an early diagnosis due to the lack of access to basic health care,” the bank said.

The report says that 6 million herd of cattle in the designated areas have been freed from tsetse fly affect which has increased meat and milk production annually by 13,360 and 180,000 metric tonnes respectively.

The project was attained by a total of 210 staff from AfDB, Kenya Wildlife Services, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, Ministries of Livestock and Public Health and Sanitation.

The same project was carried out in other East and West African countries.