Farmers can now enjoy a Reliable and Accurate Weather Forecast Platform thanks to Kenyan Researchers – Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization

By Lilian Cheruiyot and Agatha Ngotho

The unpredictable weather conditions caused by climate change has become prevalent hence making farmers rely on speculations while doing their farming production. This has greatly affected crops yields and has lowered productivity.

With at least over 80 percent of farmers’ dependent on rain-fed agriculture, there is need to be able to predict the weather patterns in order to plan their planting accordingly.

To address the issue, the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization has developed a digital app to help farmers easily access weather information.

Researchers believe if farmers use the online weather platform, it is possible to adapt or mitigate the effects of adverse weather conditions through predicted weather forecast. 

Irene Kimani, KALRO ICT specialist says the Kenya Agricultural Observation Platform (KAOP) is a forecasting tool that assist farmers to monitor weather through their mobile phones.

She says KAOP is able to provide data on previous rainy days and predict long-term trends.

“KAOP is an app that has been giving me accurate information on weather forecast and some agronomy advisory services, some of the information I have been getting is like the rainfall amount to be expecting and when to plant, harvest and what to grow at a particular season” says Margret Wambui a farmer in Njoro, Nakuru County.

Margaret Wambui , a young farmer in Njoro who has been using the KAOP App since 2019 at her farm in Njoro Photo: Stephen Odipo

Margret, who doubles up also an agrovet shop attendant, says that since she started using the app, she has assisted many farmers visiting her shop on advisory services through application.

“I share the information I get from KAOP with my customers when they come to buy seeds or chemicals.  I ask them where and when they want to plant and I check on weather conditions for that particular day because some chemicals work best either with minimal rainfall otherwise they will incur losses and blame the chemical for not working,” she says.

Owning to the online application, farmers can now access to weather information and have prior weather forecast for a period of 7 days of before and after.

Kimani says the application is designed to provide agronomic-advisory services to farmers by providing information actions they need to take in the various stages of the farming production including soil preparation, sowing, adding manure and fertilizers, irrigation, harvesting & storage, as well as marketing period based on the weather conditions predicted.

For Collins Kipchumba- a farmer in Njoro Rumwe farm, he says since he started using the app his production of Nyota beans has doubled up.

“I learnt about the app in farmers’ platform and since I started using it my bean production has increased from 4 bags per acre to 8 bags per acre. For instance, if I want to spray the app will indicate the strength of the wind in a particular day. If it is windy I will postpone my spraying to a calmer day to avoid losses. When I want to harvest, I use the app to check weather conditions to avoid post-harvest losses that maybe caused by rains,” Kipchumba explains.

Collins Kipchumba, a farmer in Njoro who has embraced the KAOP technology Photo Stephen Odipo

In an interview, John Maina, the Chief Agriculture Officer in Nakuru County says the county has introduced this platform to farmers, “By embracing the technology they have been able to bring youths onboard who are particularly encouraged to down the app and use the information to do farming,” Maina says.

“This technology is assisting to know or predict how the weather is going to be in good time and give the farmers an opportunity to plan their production” said Maina.

The ICT specialist notes that the technology is 95 per cent accurate, it has the capability of forecasting weather within a radius of 9km and can zero-in on an individual farmer’s farm.

“Through the system, farmers get to have advisory services on times hence alleviating losses that incur because of climate change. In the wake of Covid-19 pandemic, and at a time when traditional in-person farmers’ visits having been severely constrained, such phone-based advice is a cost-effective and played a key role in providing advisory services to improve the productivity in farmers’ fields,” she says.

The tool developed by KALRO is among the ICT based applications that KALRO is leveraging on to bridge the gap of access to information between researchers and farmers especially during the Covid-19.

Since its launch, there has been increase of downloads by over 5,000 and 2.7 million website visits, this indicates that the uptake is good and that farmers have now an easier way of seeking assistance from agricultural experts through the incorporation of digital technology into the agricultural research.

Besides, the KAOP technology, there are over 30 mobile applications that have been previously been launched by KALRO that assist farmers with systematic information on how to manage crops.  In addition, other apps address fall armyworm reporting and mapping, grey leaf spot disease resistance maize varieties and maize lethal necrosis disease control.

How to access

KAOP is easily accessible as a mobile app via google play store by downloading on https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.andromo.dev724321.app929771  or through a website www.kaop.co.ke