Feature: Kenyan smallholders embrace smart technology to boost yields

The Star

2 days ago

NAIROBI, May 29 (Xinhua) -- In western Kenya, maize farmer Josephat Ouma walked through rows of green, leafy stalks with a smartphone in hand. He paused and bent down before snapping a picture of a sickly-looking leaf.
"I used to wait for someone to come and help. Sometimes, they never came. Now, I take a photo, and the app tells me what is wrong," he told Xinhua in a recent interview.
Like Ouma, thousands of smallholder farmers in Kenya are turning to technology to manage crop diseases and fight declining yields.
In a region where traditional extension services are stretched thin as some counties have only one officer for every 1,500 farmers, affordable tools such as artificial intelligence (AI), mobile apps and WhatsApp groups are emerging as indispensable lifelines.
One such tool is called PlantVillage Nuru, a free app developed by researchers at Penn State University, which uses AI to analyze photos of crops and instantly diagnose diseases such as maize lethal necrosis or cassava mosaic.
It functions offline and supports local languages, making it especially useful in rural areas. "The app is so easy to use, even for farmers who are not literate," said an agricultural extension officer in Kakamega County of western Kenya, who works closely with smallholders using the app.
Across Kenya, localized WhatsApp groups now function as mini extension networks.
Farmers share pest alerts, crop management advice, and photos of affected crops, allowing others to crowdsource diagnoses and solutions. "It is like a daily clinic," said James Otieno, a maize farmer near the western Kenyan county of Kisumu. "You wake up, check your group, and see what others are facing."
In Bungoma County, Catherine Wanjala faced repeated losses to striga, commonly known as witchweed, a parasitic plant that attacks the roots of maize and sorghum.
Traditional methods, including herbicides and crop rotation, had failed. Then she was introduced to a fungal bioherbicide that significantly boosted her yields.
"Before using the bioherbicide, my maize was weak and yellow. It barely grew," Wanjala told Xinhua. "After the treatment, the difference was like night and day."
Agricultural organizations are also leading the way in digital adoption.
One Acre Fund's Kenya-based initiative Tupande has integrated AI and machine learning into its services to improve field-level recommendations.
"We use advanced systems to tailor advice based on farm-level data like soil moisture and productivity," said Makandi Laiboni, director of digital strategy at Tupande. "Even a simple change, like optimizing planting dates, can significantly reduce losses and boost yields."
The Tupande mobile app, which has about 150,000 users to date, is especially popular among youth aged 18 to 35.
"Reaching young farmers is crucial for the future of agriculture," added Karigu Ekumbo, Senior Communications Specialist at One Acre Fund. "They are more receptive to digital tools and help expand our impact in both rural and urban areas."
According to Ekumbo, barriers remain. Women, for instance, account for only 30 percent of Tupande's app users. "While that is above the national average, we are focused on closing the gender gap in agritech by tailoring support for female farmers," Ekumbo said.
A recent study by the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis estimated that only 20 to 30 percent of Kenyan farmers have adopted digital agricultural technologies.
This limited uptake underscores a significant gap in scaling up these services, which hold immense potential to boost productivity, profitability, and market access for smallholder farmers.
"We used to wait and hope. Now we know and act," Ouma said, surveying his healthy field. "It is not magic. It is just good information."