[kictanet] Use ICTs to resolve food problems in Kenya

[Grace Githaiga]

Use ICTs to resolve food problems in Kenya 
By Mutwiri Mutuota
 

Nairobi, Kenya, September 30- Kenya can solve her food deficit problems by incorporating ICT in agriculture to stem the over reliance on erratic natural rainfall patterns currently favoured by most rural farmers.
 
Ministry of Information and Communication Permanent Secretary, Dr. Bitange Ndemo urged the country’s universities to lead the way by using their land as models of how IT can realise the dream to eradicate drought. 
 
“The Government has already done the entire mapping of the country’s soils, and good use of the data can inform farmers when it is most appropriate to for example to plant potatoes, wheat or maize,” Ndemo told students from various Kenyan universities during an IGF Public lecture on Friday.
 
Ndemo was emphatic that “the highest productivity in the farms will only be achieved when we incorporate advancements made in the information technology sector that can be used to create knowledge on hunger trends and food security solutions”.
 
Turning to institutions of higher learning, Ndemo cited the Egerton University of Agriculture as a centre that could hatch a solution to the raving drought that continues to bite the country particularly in the Northern and Southern parts.
 
“The Universities possess 2GB broadband and 5000 acres of land, and if these two resources were adequately used, Egerton could generate enough revenue to subsidise fees and research for their students as well as offering solutions to farmers countrywide.”
 
The former ICT lecturer at University of Nairobi turned to his Alma Mater stating they could also take up the challenge in dairy farming since they possess enough land for agrarian research as well.
 
“We must be able to see the opportunities that exist to solve the food shortage problem through research by using the available data and convert it to knowledge.”
 
Shifting to the impact of the ICT evolution on governance, Ndemo observed that democracies in the world were feeling threatened by the rise of integration through Internet social media platform.
 
“Only recently, Britain, one of the most stable democracies in the world almost shut down social media after the incidents in London, illustrating how governments are becoming increasingly confused by development of the democratic space in the Internet.”
 
He stressed the need for governments to formulate policies aimed at bringing them in tandem with the unlimited freedoms of expression available on the internet.  
 
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