Treating crop diseases via mobile phone

Mobile phones are being used to diagnose and treat crop diseases that cause massive losses to farmers.

This is presenting an opportunity to increase yields as location-specific information about disease threats is made available.

An initiative in two districts of Uganda, has community knowledge workers sending text messages to farmers in a given locality.

The information may include how to arrest the diseases, and where to buy uncontaminated seeds, as well tips on how to improve soil quality to increase yields.

Aided by these mobile phone messages, farmers in a pilot scheme in the districts of Mbale and Mbusheni have arrested the spread of banana wilt and banana bunchy top virus through early diagnosis and treatment.

“We have trained the workers on how to use mobile phones to get information to the farmers. They offer agricultural tips and advise through the phones on what to do and not to do to control the diseases,” said Whitney Gantt of Grameen Foundation, a global anti-poverty organisation.

Since 2002, banana wilt has been terrorising farmers and steadily spreading to other parts of the country.

According to Ms Gantt, the mobile project is expected to be replicated to other areas across the country.

She was among the researchers who gathered in Nairobi to discuss technologies that can generate location-specific (geospatial) information for farmers in order to boost agricultural productivity in Africa.

The spatial information experts met in Nairobi as part of African Geospatial Week, organised by the the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, a global body focusing on agriculture research.

Many small scale farmers in Africa still rely on little more than their instincts and past experience to decide which crops to plant.

They lack access to information specific to their farm areas including type of soil, fertilisers, best seeds, climatic conditions as well as market prices.

Consequently, smallholder farmers frequently have their crops and livelihoods wiped out by unexpected weather patterns or diseases.

And they may not reap the full benefits of a good harvest if they don’t know the true value of their crops or where to sell them for maximum gain.

Providing farmers with geospatial information about their soils, disease and pest threats, appropriate farming techniques, markets offering competitive prices, imminent weather patterns, emerged as key to ensuring high crop yields, while reducing uncertainties in production.