“Is it recommendable to use boluses to deworm two or three month’s calves? What should be the dosage?” John Kosgey, a dairy farmer asked in a social media group on Monday.
“Give them in tablet forms and use bolus gun to administer while following the dosage recommended by manufacturer,” Pius Kirwa, a veterinary doctor, replied.
This was not a face-to-face talk, but a conversation on WhatsApp, a social media networking site, through which Kenyan farmers and agriculture experts interact and solve problems as they seek to boost food production in the east African nation.
The platform has become an easiest way to fill the gap created by the low number of agricultural extension officers across the east African country amid boom in small-scale farming and smartphone use.
And thanks to the growing number of the social media farming groups, farmers are getting their problems solved in real time, unlike in the past when they would wait for days for the extension officer to arrive on the farm.
“You cannot be a farmer today and expect better harvest without belonging to a WhatsApp group,” reckoned Kosgey on Monday. “This is where the real conversation about farmers and farming is happening today,” he added.
Kosgey joined the dairy group after attending a farmers’ field day in Narok County, October last year, and since then, he observed that he has had the challenges he faces on the farm solved either by fellow farmers or the three veterinary doctors on the forum.
“Since I began dairy farming three years ago, I had only been served by a veterinary doctor once when my cow had a difficult calving and I paid heavily for the service. All along I have been dealing with paravets but thanks to the social media platform, I am now served by the doctors every day,” he said.
Walter Akanda, another dairy farmer, noted that it is also easier to know what other farmers are doing across the country through the social media platform.
“As a farmer, you cannot operate in a vacuum hoping that what you are doing is the best. By being in the group, you learn the happenings in the industry especially if there is an outbreak of diseases,” he said, noting he is in three farmers’ WhatsApp groups.
For livestock, topics discussed on the forum include where to buy good animals, how to detect heat in cows, deworming, dealing with parasites, getting market and fodder growing, management and usage.
Similarly, in crop WhatsApp groups, farmers are enquiring from agronomists about pests and diseases, getting markets, how to grow various crops, fertilizer application and certified seeds.
Besides planting horticultural crops like tomatoes, beetroots, potatoes, capsicums, onions, mushroom, and butternuts, some of them in greenhouses using drip irrigation system, Kenyan farmers are also keeping rabbits, dairy cows, goats, sheep and chickens.
“I am in two WhatsApp groups and I respond to up to five messages from farmers every day,” said Beatrice Macharia, an agronomist with Agro-Point, a consultancy, in Nairobi.
For the crop specialist, a good number of the enquiries on the platform translate to work for her, an indication of how the technology has become crucial for consultants like her.
“I check the platform periodically to ensure that I do not miss anything that farmers are asking about. We are two agronomists on the platform with about 120 farmers. This is a number we could not have been able to serve a day in real time,” she said.
Social media networks should be a modern day farmer’s friend, according to Eric Ogumo, the chairman of the Society of Crop Agribusiness Advisor, since this is the place producers not only network but also interact with experts.
Farmers can take photos of their animals or plants and share with the group in case they have problems and get immediate answer, which boosts food production, he observed. Enditem
