The Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation has developed 14 mobile apps to help farmers.
Kalro director general Eliud Kireger said the Agricultural Extension Service, a devolved function to help farmers, has collapsed.
"These apps are one way to extend agricultural services to farmers," Kireger said.
He said apps are being tested. We are encouraging farmers to use them and give us feedback so we can improve the system."
Kireger said Kalro has partnered with USAID to develop 14 mobile apps on varieties and a seed catalogue, guidelines in acquiring Kalro technology, production and management of specific crops.
“Farmers can also get information on disease and pest control, how to do record keeping, market information and inbuilt advisory services, among others,” he said.
It also has information on livestock and organic farming.
Farmers can download the apps (Kalro app) from the Google Playstore. The app has information on a variety of crops production.
There is information on armyworm reporting and mapping in Kenya, grey leaf spot (GLS) disease resistant maize varieties, lethal maize necrosis disease control, guidelines on the production of medicated feed blocks.
The director general said they have also developed a weather app for a five-day forecast.
It was developed under the World Bank-Israel partnership on Climate Resilient Agriculture.
The application provides weather forecasts for all 47 counties (precipitation and observations) for the past 30 days, past seven days and next seven days, Kireger said.
(Edited by R.Wamochie)
