Agricultural extension services play a key role in improving the livelihoods of farming communities through the provision of expert assistance, disseminating information and technologies, as well as translating scientific research into practice. They are critical agents of change in transforming subsistence agriculture to modern agriculture, promoting food security and fighting poverty. Unfortunately, agricultural extension services in Uganda are constrained by an array of challenges: too few extension officers to serve a large farmer population with a 1:3,000 ratio of extension officers to farmers and limited resources that limit extension officers’ capabilities to meet rural farmers in person. The advent of ICTs especially mobile phones and their rapid explosion amongst Ugandans if well leveraged can bring about major quantum jumps in efficiency and effectiveness. There is potential for significant and rapid gains in the diffusion and adoption of improved farming technologies by integrating effective ICT systems in existing extension systems. Unfortunately, the capacity of extension officers as well as farmers to use these new technologies in their work is unacceptably low.
m-Omulimisa (Mobile Extension Officer)
m-Omulimisa m-Omulimisa (m-omulimisa.com) is a mobile and web-based platform that enables farmers to exchange information with extension officers in indigenous languages. The platform leverages human mediation and text messaging to create a mobile and web-based consultation space. Farmers can use their phones to ask questions in languages that they understand, and receive understandable feedback from extension officers in the region via text messages.
How it works
(1) Farmers have to register via text messages when they use the platform for the first time. In the registration text, you begin the message with your language specific keyword (e.g., Lapwony, Apwony, Mulimisa, Muhingisa, Akorion, Mulimi for Acholi, Lango, Luganda, Runyakitara, Ateso and Lugwere respectuvley), district name, sub-county name, and their full name. For example, Muhingisa Sembabule Mijwala Daniel Ninsiima and send to 8228. After the text is sent to 8228, farmers will receive a confirmation text message written in the same language that they used to register;
(2) To ask a question(s), you begin a text message with a language specific keyword to indicate the language you use (e.g Manya, Apeny, Lapeny, Aingiset, Kuwulia for Luganda and Runyakitara (Manya applies to both languages), Lango, Acholi, Ateso and Lugwere respectively). Then, you type your question in the text message, and send them to the short code -- 8228. For instance, “Apeny how do I apply DAP”;
(3) Upon sending the query, the text messages are instantly delivered to a web-based platform. On the platform, registered extension officers can check and respond directly to the questions. The answer(s) to questions will be instantly sent back to the farmer's phone. WIth support from Telecom Companies, using the system is free of charge for farmers on Airtel and MTN Uganda. These two telecom companies account for more than 95% of the market share.
(4) All registered farmers also receive location-based information of weather, markets, and farming regularly from extension officers. For example, “according to the MET office, rains in Kabale will begin in late March till early June. You are advised to prepare for planting at the onset of the rains”.
(5) With the feedback we have received from users including extension officers and farmers, the developers are working on a mobile App version of the system that will enable farmers with smartphones to attach pictures of diseased crops or animals so that extension officers can make better assessment of the problems (farmer questions) and provide appropriate solutions. The app will also make it possible for extension officers with smartphones to respond to farmer questions from their phones.
English being the national language but understood by only a small group of elites in smallholder farmer communities. The use of local languages in the platform makes English-illiterate farmers in rural villages inclusive in agricultural advisory services. In addition, it makes the platform highly compatible with Uganda’s heterogeneous lingual landscape of over 56 indigenous languages. More importantly, the mapping function of the platform can track the origins of incoming queries geographically using geo-spatial data. Consequently, organizations and responsible government agencies can utilize this function to respond efficiently to emergencies, such as disease outbreaks, floods, and droughts. By transcending the geographical and resource limitations in a traditional agricultural extension system, the platform effectively and efficiently connects smallholder farmers with extension officers and researchers.
Platform Use Stats to Date
Number of registered smallholder farmers: 3334
Number of received questions from farmers: 1500
Number of solved questions from farmers: 1498
Partner Organizations
We are already working with a number of partners both in and outside the UFAAS/AFAAS network. These include: Sasakawa Global 2000, Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS), Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET), Farm Radio International (FRI), Slow Food Uganda, CABI’s Plantwise initiative (we are holding joint trainings for extension officers across Uganda), Uganda National Association of Community and Occupational Health (UNACOH), the Masaka Bean Market enhancement innovation platform and a number of district local governments.
How do we sustain the system?
By design, the system works within already existing extension systems through both public and private extension providers. We therefore do not incur costs to recruit staff or buy extra equipment. We provide the platform for free to our partner organizations such as Sasakawa Global 2000, CABI’s Plantwise initiative, WOUGNET, Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS) and various local governments. We train their extension agents on how to use the system and give them free access to the system. In turn, they commit to train their farmers on how to use the system as well as use the system to answer their farmers’ questions. They also provide the necessary tools such as tablets, laptops and smartphones to their extension officers to respond to farmers’ questions. In this regard, we are wroking with CABI’s Plantwise initiative to integrate the system into their e-plant clinics where they are distributing over 1,300 tablets to extension officers across Uganda.
Additionally, we use a toll free short code (made possible with generous support from telecom companies) which means that neither we nor the farmers pay to use the system. For other system related costs such as hosting and system originated text messages – which are very minimal – our partners have been able to take care of them. We are already working with a number of organizations as earlier mentioned. Additionally, organizations such as WOUGNET that are using the system outside the scope of agriculture extension (WOUGNET is using the system to monitor service delivery in Apac, Oyam and Kole districts through a grant from Indigo Trust) are paying for system customization and other system related costs. Our scale up plan involves working with more organizations that have established networks through which our service will reach more farmers and extension officers.
Awards Received
In 2013 and 2014, the system was among a select group of student-led projects that participated in USAID’s HESN TechCon Innovation Marketplace (an annual USAID technical convening that brings together researchers, innovators, field practitioners and private sector professionals focused on creative approaches for international development) at the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia and at UC Berkeley, San Francisco respectively. We've aslo been selected to feature at this year's TechCon at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts. m-Omulimisa SMS Services, was also 1st Place award winner in the Food System Innovations category at the UC Berkeley’s Big Ideas Challenge in 2015 and Third place award winner in the Scale Up Category in 2016. It was among a select group of projects awarded from over 200 submissions. Commenting on the project, the judges stated, “We believe your idea has high potential, and we look of the forward to hearing more about your project as it is implemented.”