By Lilian Museka
At least 800,000 smallholder farmers in Kenya depend on dairy farming for their livelihood according to The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
However, despite the sector contributing 8% of Gross Domestic Product with annual milk production of 3.43 billion liters according to a report on Smallholder dairy production in Kenya, many farmers have not adopted to technology so as to increase their milk yield.
A new software application, MyFugo is set to change the milk production in Kenya. Farmers will now be able to increase milk productivity by reducing calving period by more than six months.
MyFugo is Software as a Service (SaaS) based app solution that allows farmers to capture and record livestock data with the aim of improving yield and profitability.
The founder, Mr. Allan Tollo says the app helps the farmer monitor his cows throughout the day enabling him to tell what time the cow will be on heat for it to be served at the right time.
Allan, a holder of Masters in Information Systems from the University of Nairobi, has had an interest in dairy farming and a passion for helping address challenges faced by farmers.
“We use a technology called the Smart Cow Collar device that enables the farmer to know the exact time when the animal is on heat. The Smart Cow Collar is a tag placed on the animal that is used to accurately project the reproductive cycle. The information is then sent to the farmer’s laptop or phone in real-time through the MyFugo app after every 30 minutes hence helping the farmers get alerts to changes in animal health and heat patterns” says Allan.
Adding that most farmers use manual ways of estrus, leading to long calving intervals and high cost of feeding and treating the animals, and yet still miss the cow’s fertility dates.
“Famers who want to get the app register through the MyFugo registration portal for free and register their farm and animals” He adds that “The farmer then keys in his name, email address, password, animals name, milk record, and vaccination schedules. However, to use the smart cow collar, the farmer will have to purchase one which costs 150$.
“Apart from heat detection, the app also helps farmers in keeping their records digitally. The data helps deliver insights and analytics that farmers need to optimize the productivity of every cow” he says.
Farmers also get information through WhatsApp messages after being entered in the portal database. This enables them to ask questions and get instant answers.
For farmers using USSD feature phones which are not your average smartphones have not been left behind as they can still the App using the USSD code and access necessary information wherever they are.
Allan explains the advantage of using the smart collar cow is to ensure increased milk production “Most dairy farmers have their animals calving after 580 to 620 days on average. We aim to make a social impact on dairy farmers by helping them solve this age-old problem of silent heat detection. By reducing the days, animals will produce more calves in their lifetime thus translating to higher milk yield, better revenues and sustaining better economic livelihoods for dairy farmers” he says.
The Smart Cow Collar has been successfully used in developed countries like the Netherlands and New Zealand. Kenya is just adopting the technology and he is optimistic farmers around the country will embrace it.
Currently, the app is being used by more than 300 farmers in Kisii, Migori and Baringo counties. The farmers are more confident as they receive real-time notifications and more successful inseminations are realized.
So far, MyFugo has registered a total of 8,000 farmers with a target of 50,000 farmers by the end of 2019. The challenges they have is converting all the farmers to become active users.
“Right now we only have 300 active users but we are trying to get them through the cooperatives in the various counties,” he adds
Allan adds that currently, they are also trying to roll out the program in Uasin Gishu, Transzoia, Kakamega, Bomet and Meru counties.
Asked how different Smart Cow Collar is from other similar apps, Allan says Myfugo is a turnkey solution meant to holistically address farmers’ issues while embracing technology such as IoT and Machine learning. From digital records to Smart cow collar and access to short term loans, Myfugo offers it all in its attempt to walk alongside the farmer and help solve everyday problems that they face.“The records help in monitoring animal feeds, milk yields, birth, and genetic challenges thereby helping in solving any arising problems with the animals,” he adds
Another unique feature that Allan mentions is that Myfugo generates unique lifetime identification for each animal and this helps in tracking the animal at any location. It also helps in identifying where animals that have the risk of diseases are and this helps in prompting faster interventions after a notification has been sent to the farmer who then calls in a veterinary officer.
“The vet officer can prescribe an intervention without having to appear physically since the information is shared on the online portal by the farmer. We have also introduced a portal for vet officers who are approved by the Kenya Veterinary Board on the platform and this ensures farmers have access to qualified veterinary doctors.
Myfugo has also introduced credit facilities specifically designed for livestock farmers “Most farmers face a challenge of accessing loans to do simple things like vaccinating their animals, feeding or urgent treatments.
He says the loans range between 50$ to 100$ and will attract an interest of 4 percent and a repayment period of between 7-30 days. “Our target is small scale farmers who have been unable to access loans from either banks or other credit facilities” he adds.
However, with every enterprise-facing challenges, Myfugo has not been spared. “Most farmers are techno shy and connecting them is a big task. Most of them either don’t have phones or internet is a problem”.
MyFugo is positive that it will soon get willing partners and investors in its quest to make a fundamental social impact and help improve economic livelihoods of small scale farmers.
“We hope to start operations in Rwanda by September 2019, and this is a testimony that we have a strong value proposition and are excited to be using technology to make impactful change to farmers in Africa” Allan concludes.
