Farmers all over the country are set to benefit from the launch of a mobile app that will help them maintain their records.
The smart cow app which can be installed on smartphones will enable farmers monitor their expenditure and income and thus know whether the enterprise is making profit or losses for effective management.
A case study in 2016 for instance by David Kiprono of University of Eldoret , Martin Koome and Felista Lelei of Kenya Methodist University in Cherangani division, Trans Nzoia found that only 32 per cent of the farmers in the region kept farm records but did not use them efficiently in their farms while 68 per cent had no records.
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“The app is programmed to remind farmers of daily routine management practices such as when a cow is supposed to be vaccinated, dewormed or served,” said Intersoft director, Levis Wambura.
The smart cow app is designed in a way that it is able to analyze the history of each and every animal including the production levels for milk.
With the app dairy farmers can also post and ask questions which will be answered by Intersoft’s experts and veterinary officers on farm management practices.
In 2017, Kenya’s milk production dropped by 30 per cent as compared to 2016 to 3.64bn liters owing to prolonged drought according to the Kenya Dairy Board, the industry regulator.
Of the 3.64bn produced milk, only 535.5m liters was processed by 28 licensed milk processors and mini dairies down from 648.2m liters in the previous year.
Data from the Kenya Dairy Board also indicates that Kenya exported three million kilos of milk in 2017 up from two million kilos in 2016.
The country has approximate 1.8m smallholder dairy farmers who produce an average of seven to nine liters per cow per day against a potential of 20 liters. In this, the app may go a long way in helping farmers increase production through proper management of the cows for optimum productivity.