Govt introduces ICT farming project for crop monitoring

Morogoro. The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Development has introduced an information and communications technology (ICT) project for crop monitoring.

The pilot project got off the ground in Morogoro Region with the aim of maintaining food security.

Supported by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Stars Project has trained 40 extension officers to collect data on crop conditions for thousands of farmers in 100 checkpoints in the region. The project research assistant, Ms Catherine Nakalembe, said on Saturday that extension officers were using tablets to collect information from smallholder farmers on conditions of various crops during pre-harvest and post-harvest seasons and send them to research stations based at the Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) and the ministry headquarters for analysis.

“Today we have collected information from farmers based at Mlali Village. We have firsthand information that armyworms have invaded farms in the village. This kind of information is vital for responsible policy-makers and officers to take action,” said Ms Nakalembe.

The project assistant based at SUA, Mr Ibrahim Kidigi, said through the use of ICT, extension officers had been feeding and disseminating information regularly on crop diseases, rainfall conditions, farm sizes, crop yields as well as post-harvest and marketing conditions.