By Meshack Ngangi
The Co-operative University of Kenya’s Kenya Rural Transformation Centres Digital Platform (KRTCDP) has taken quite a drastic cause after the project acquired a modern technological server that is purposely intended to digitalise the farmers’ productivity and strengthen the cooperatives in the pilot areas of Nakuru, Narok, and Baringo counties.
The server acquisition is an attestation to the progressive strides the University and the project implementation partners have taken in realising the funding goals of the project’s financier, the African Development Bank (AfDB).
This novel technological gadget has the capacity for sustainable and enhanced farmer connectivity, boosting farmer cooperatives, eliminating the perpetual risks of agricultural market cartels, and supporting the economic empowerment of the farmers.
Through this noble programme and the possibilities presented by the digital server, smallholder farmers can now access crucial agricultural services and inputs through an integrated system that incorporates agro-suppliers, produce markets, and integral public services from the government.
Prof. Ngamau reaffirmed the KRTCDP’s projected potential in realising the government’s Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA). The result of this initiative coincides with the BETA tenets of an economically empowered and food-secure nation through collaborations between cooperative movements in key value chains such as Irish potatoes, dairy farming, and maize.
The server goes a long way in helping farmers to utilise mobile technology information superhighway through smartphone-enabled systems and programmes. They will have real-time access to weather updates from the meteorological department and critical market information, which is paramount for agricultural decision-making and taking advantage of seasonal changes for optimised production.
The server goes a long way in helping farmers to utilise mobile technology information superhighway through smartphone-enabled systems and programmes. They will have real-time access to weather updates from the meteorological department and critical market information, which is paramount for agricultural decision-making and taking advantage of seasonal changes for optimised production.
At the core of this AfDB’s Fund for Africa Private Sector Assistance (FAPA) funded KRTCDP project lies the objectives of enhanced productivity, profitability, and sustainability within farmer cooperatives, hence fortifying and bringing a ripple effect in the entire agricultural sector. The beneficiaries of this initiative comprise a multi-stakeholder base, including agricultural farmer cooperatives, banking sector players such as the Co-operative Bank of Kenya, development partners, government agencies, and researchers.
Additionally, Prof. Nyamongo explained that the server is fitted with 24 hard drives with enhanced data storage capabilities tailored to the dynamic KRTCDP project’s particular needs and the University’s digital network.