It is a new dawn for pastoralists in Kenya with the launch of a new mobile application that will help them search for pasture virtually.
The mobile application, Afriscout App, will be launched tomorrow, February 1 at the Enchula Resort in Kajiado County.
The App developed by a US-based NGO, Project Concern International (PCI) has the ability to project in real time satellite-powered maps of areas with dense vegetation and water availability.
The App has an integrated design of the community’s defined grazing fields. The App is overlaid with satellite vegetation data that is always up to date.
Afriscout’s National Program Manager Brenda Wandera said Kenya is the third country where the App is being piloted. In past pilots-in Ethiopia and Tanzania, it have proved to be useful.
“Afriscout mobile App was piloted in three countries; Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania and the maps have proven to be highly useful for pastoralists reducing mortality for herds by half, by saving time in search of pasture, as well as improving collective pasture management,” she said according to Nairobi News.
PCI President Carrie Hessler-Radelet added: “The value of this innovation is derived not simply from technology, but from working with local pastoralists to fuse indigenous knowledge with technology to create better and more effective migration decisions.”
Every pastoral household will be provided with the App for a period on six months on a trial basis. It will be free.
After this, they will be required to sign up for its service per year at a set fee.
So far, about 1, 600 people have registered with the App, Wandera said. “The mobile application has registered over 1, 600 new users each week since October 2017 during piloting period.”