Swaleh Abdallah, an elderly farmer from Kamuiru village in Kiharu constituency, Murang’a county, proudly opened up his farm to hundreds of farmers from his village on Saturday.
The farm is filled with a variety of crops growing lushly in his village. It has a diversity of crops, including soya beans and ground nuts that are not common in the area.
The farmer explained that last season, a friend connected him to an organisation that supplied him with materials that drastically improved his farming practices.
Though skeptical at first, Abdallah said he tried it on a small portion of his farm and realised better harvests.
This season, he decided to plant more crops using the information he got from the organisation and his maize stalks grew big and healthy while his fields are covered with the green cover of grains.
Abdallah is part of Scientific Animations Without Borders Kenya Network, a group that helps disseminate materials on farming practices to farmers in the grassroots in all parts of the country.
“I received videos on how to identify the presence of fall army worms through their red stools or observing my crops while they are still young. Once I confirm their presence, I then use ash from my kitchen or contact extension officers so they can be managed as early as possible.”
“The videos also trained me to start planting soya beans and groundnuts, which I have never done before and also how to intercrop so that my crops get sufficient nutrients. Now my farm has been transformed.”
SAWBO is a US-based organisation made up of researchers who create animated farming materials that are then disseminated to farmers in numerous countries.
James Kataru, the head of SAWBO Kenya Network, said the videos are between five and seven minutes long and are translated to local dialects to ensure they reach as many farmers as possible in the grassroots.
The videos are disseminated through social media platforms such as WhatsApp, while farmers without smartphones either get them through bluetooth or flash disks.
The videos handle many of the challenges farmers face in their farms and helps them to handle them in a cost effective manner.
They train farmers on how to prepare their farms before planting and tending to their crops to reduce pests and increase harvests.
“We work with local communities to translate the videos and have over 10,000 volunteers in all counties except, Garissa, Wajir and Mandera that help reach out to farmers," Kataru said.
Agriculture, he said, is just one of the sectors the videos address and videos on health, conservation, economics and women empowerment are also available.
He urged the government to consider lowering the cost of internet and boost connectivity to cover all parts of the country.
He also underscored the need to ease accessibility to smart mobile phones to allow as many Kenyans as possible to access information that can change their lives.
Through the videos, Kataru said there are many success stories of farmers who have since been able to shield their livestock from diseases and increase their earnings.
Farmers have also been able to use the jerrycan bean storage method to safely store their produce for use as seeds in the next season, eradicating the cost of buying new seeds.
In this method, beans are dried up completely after harvesting before they are stored in an airtight plastic container and is ideal for all grains.
“We have seen a farmer here who has been able to plant ground beans for the first time and his neighbours are shocked because they all never thought they would do that well," Kataru said.
“Our aim is to reduce the cost of production for farmers while increasing their harvests. We show farmers how to produce their own compost manure instead of relying on fertilisers and making pesticides from locally available herbs. There are also videos on value adding harvests.”
Barry Pittendrigh, a professor and one of the researchers under SAWBO, said their content is available in about 130 countries.
The organisation, he said, collaborates with numerous groups around the world and is working with some TV stations, government and non-governmental agencies in Kenya.
“One of the exciting things about this programme is taking global experts’ knowledge and then putting it in a format that’s understandable by everyone,” he said.
He said a programme they undertook in Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria a few years back reached more than 12.5 million people and helped make savings of up to $90 million.
He said all SAWBO videos are available on YouTube and can be downloaded for later use.
Pittendrigh said initially, it was a challenge working with many groups speaking different languages but that the group saw it as an opportunity to work with community members to translate their videos.
"Every year, millions of educational needs go unfulfilled by international development agencies. Our animations are there to fill the gap by sharing knowledge for free."