(SUNDAY MAIL ZW) UZ introduces e-farming

UZ introduces e-farming
Saturday, 25 August 2012 19:39
Sunday Mail Reporter

The University of Zimbabwe intends to introduce e-farming, a technological platform aimed at pro­viding instant agricultural information to farmers through mobile phones.

In an interview on the sidelines of the just-ended Harare Agricultural Show, UZ information, proto­col and public relations director Mr Dennis Rwafa disclosed that the university will launch the pro­gramme next month.

“What motivated us to come up with e-farming is that we noticed farmers were being short­changed by a chain of middlemen,” he said.

“We have now decided to give them information free of charge.

“However, the system is only avail­able to farmers who are registered with us.

“Right now we are asking farmers to come and register with us so that their numbers will be in our database.

“By just sending a text message with the key words that we are going to give, an instant response is given.”

Mr Rwafa said the e-farming platform will give farmers access to vast agricultural information on the UZ database.

“The university has an agricultural database that houses agricultural information relevant to all Zimbabweans. The information includes inputs, market prices, animal and crop diseases and research-based data.”

Among other things on display at the UZ stand was an automatic irrigation control system based on soil moisture content.

One of the inventors of the system, Mr Michael Munyaradzi, said the innovation detects soil mois­ture content.

The system waters crops automatically.

“When the minimum soil moisture content that we would have programmed is reached, the irriga­tion system will automatically start watering the field and when the maximum is reached, it auto­matically stops.

“The good thing about this automatic irrigation system is that a farmer can travel for a week and still find his crop well-watered and in good condi­tion when he comes back,” said Mr Munyaradzi, who is a computer science and physics lecturer at the university.

The UZ scooped a total of 12 prizes at this year’s Harare Agricultural Show.