Fenix Blog

Smartphones are changing the future of Ugandan agriculture

by Jillian Pfund on July 1, 2011

Congrats to our friends over at Grameen who are featured in this article by Deobrah Bassett for Huffington Post! Fenix is excited to be supplying Grameen CKWs with ReadySet kits to charge smartphones. [Link to Grameen Blog Post]

In Uganda, smartphones are being used to help farmers get access to more agricultural information, through conversation with one another and applications on the phones. The Grameen Foundation's Application Laboratory (aka AppLab) created an app for its Community Knowledge Workers (CKW), called CKW search. It's an application that informs farmers about crop failure, pests, weather and more. This helps farmers to take precautions and also determines where to invest their money.

According to Karl Muth, an economist working with the Grameen Foundation, Uganda was once a food exporter and is hoping to become one again. The use of smartphones is making this possible.

Caption: Karl Muth with CKW and local farmer, Willy Okello. Photo credit: Helgeson

The information attained from smart phones is game changing, as well as the speed at which it's available. In the past, it would have been extremely difficult for farmers to get the information in a timely manner, not to mention without traveling great distances. Now, with the use of smartphones, information can be downloaded instantly without affecting a farmers' schedules.

Aside from gaining information, the use of smartphones also allows farmers to give information. According to Muth, farmers now “have a voice in the design of a generation of new insurance products that may protect them from the next drought, ﬂood, or disease.” Farmers are able to be a part of the insurance process that will affect them so greatly and quite possibly save them in times of hardship. This will also provide researchers with updates on developing nations’ progress.

Muth adds, "By using local people, local social networks, locally-built software, and local languages, I believe we'll learn far more about these farmers' lives than ever [before]...” By giving farmers the tools that they need, smartphones and applications are helping to provide a sustainable future for Ugandans.

Do you think that this technology will extend beyond Uganda to help farmers in other developing nations?

Via Huffington Post

Categories: Blog, Environment, Social Change, Technology, Fenix