AgroApps – Creating Social And Economic Benefits. And Why Our Farmers Need More Innovation in This Sector

It is very interesting these days.  Mobile Apps are making in-roads into Africa in an unprecedented rate for any technology that has ever diffused into the continent. Specifically in Kenya – the undisputed headquarters of mobility computing in Africa, we are seeing how mobile apps are helping all aspects of the economy.

We are all relishing this progress and pattern and hope that it offers Africans the opportunity to create local solutions to our problems. Apps are helping to simplify supply chains. Apps are proving and empowering young minds. And the biggest of all – Apps is helping our farmers to be more informed about the market. You cannot rip them off because they can access price data in the town even while inside the farms. Based on that, they know how much you are making on their products and can then bargain well informed.

In Agriculture, Apps will play major roles. We expect patterns to help farmers monitor crop yield, farm conditions and other pertinent operations and logistics – all done via mobile devices. As it helps to modernize our agriculture by offering tips and ideas to farmers that used to be cut off from sources of new knowledge, we will see that Apps provide social and economic benefits.

In Apps World Africa, they captured it excellently:

Immediate text and voice communication has already had a massive difference, and a series of text only services designed specifically for the standard function handsets have plugged rural farmers into the fluctuating prices and varying demand patterns that every other operator in their market-chain has benefited from for years.

 

Through the simple act of sending a text message, these farmers can access services, markets and crop prices, enabling them to command fairer trade and collaborate to protect their common interests and enforce their rights. This revolution, unthinkable just a couple of years ago, is just the beginning.