Smart farming applications offer real-time information, superior analytics, and operational efficiency to the farmers.
Farm management has turned into an efficient data-driven process with the emergence of smart mobile tools. Smart farming applications offer real-time information, superior analytics, and operational efficiency to the farmers.
That being said, we will review some of the top smart farming apps today and delve a little deeper into what features they have. We will also look into how smart farming applications improve farm management. Keep reading!
Smart Farming: What is It?
Smart farming may be referred to as Precision Farming. It deploys modern technology for efficiency in farming.
The new generation model of farming collects all forms of data coming from different sources onto a single platform for better efficiency and sustainability, including satellite imagery, sensors, and weather forecasts.
Applications on mobile phones become major contributors in such transformation. It comforts the farmers by introducing smartphones into their operations.
The Role of Mobile Applications in Present Farming
The big deal in modern agriculture seems to come from mobile apps. Right from field activity tracking and analysis to the analysis of weather patterns, they seem to cover everything. Managing farm operations just by tapping on the screen has made them quite valuable.
Application of smart farming plays a transformative role across the continent, and it is important to the farmers as such has started helping them undertake and manage their work within specifically accepted technological confines. Some of the key applications, origin countries, pros, and cons are listed below:
1. iCow; Origin Country: Kenya
iCow is an elaborate mobile phone application designed to assist farmers in managing their dairy farms. It provides useful information concerning aftercare on the livestock and mainly the cows. It sends reminders on breeding, milk production, feeding schedules, and disease control.
Features
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Farming Tips: Farming tips on animal nutrition, prevention of diseases and generally how to run the farm.
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Calendar Reminders: Special alerts for action on various activities concerning vaccinations, milking timings, and artificial insemination.
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Record Keeping: Helps the farmer in record-keeping in order to keep the health and productivity of the cattle at individual animal levels.
Pros
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The application is indeed quite easy to use and customized for Kenyan farmers.
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It enhances health and productivity, as it gives reminders and information on time.
2. Esoko- Country of Origin: Ghana
This is one of those very few platforms available to date within most African countries, providing updated current market prices, complemented by weather forecasts and advisory services to farmers.
Core Features
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Price in Market: It provides current and actual updates related to the price of crops in the market.
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Weather Forecasts: It gives localized weather forecasts to farmers for planning farm activities.
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SMS Alerts: It sends notifications and advisories through SMS; hence, it reaches those farmers who do not own smartphones.
Pros:
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Innovative inclusions intended for huge numbers of target users in low smartphone diffusion areas.
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Very convenient to have the market price and weather forecasts.
3. FarmDrive- Country of Origin: Kenya
FarmDrive builds and deploys alternative data-based credit-scoring systems that increase the accessibility of credit by farmers in Kenya. The credit profile is developed from data emanating from various activities carried out by the farmer in order to facilitate access to loans.
Features:
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Credit Scoring: It bases its scoring on aspects such as farm productivity and methods of farm management. The system will enable farmers to manage their incomes, expenses, and profits.
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Application for a Loan: The application will link the farmers with financial institutions that can give them a loan based on scores kept by the application.
Pros
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The application integrates small-scale farmers into financial systems lacking traditional credit histories.
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It provides farmers with ways in which they can improve farm financial management for reinvestment back into their operations.
4. Zenvus- Country of Origin:Nigeria
Zenvus is an AgriTech startup working on data collection with the use of smart sensors that would help farmers in terms of knowing the soil moisture, nutrient levels, and temperature.
With this information, it would be easy to tell when irrigation is supposed to take place, fertilizer application, and times of planting.
Features
The same can be used to readjust the moisture and nutrient level of the soil in real time.
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Data Analytics: Analytics provides recommendations for best farming practices based on the conclusions.
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Remote Monitoring: With the Zenvus platform, farmers are hereby able to get any information about their fields.
Pros
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It helps farmers use their resources better for better yields with no wastage.
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Zenvus aids in good farming through the best advice in the soil and crop management field.
5. AgriPredict-Zambia-Country ofOrigin: Zambia.
AgriPredict is a predictive analytics platform that, through AI, predicts outbreaks of pests, diseases, and changes in the weather. The platform helps farmers within Zambia manage such risks having to do with pests and diseases and weather conditions.
Using AI, it wants to provide predictions regarding potential infestations and adverse changes in the weather. In addition, it wants to empower farmers through foresight into taking matters into their hands by taking early preventive measures.
Features
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Detection of Diseases and Pests: AI can project alerts on outbreaks for the farmers.
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Weather Forecasting: This module for location-based weather prediction
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Crop Health Monitoring: Information about health regarding the crops is given to farmers throughout the growth cycle.
Advantages
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Growers by this are able to consult expertise and take precaution so as to save their crops from infestation and diseases.
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Early warnings through the technology have reduced losses.
6. Hello Tractor- Country of Origin: Nigeria
Hello Tractor links farmers with tractor owners; small-scale farmers can rent mechanized farming tools that they may not be in a position to buy. It is commonly referred to as the "Uber for Tractors."
Features
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Tractor Booking: It allows farmers to book tractor services through the application.
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Tractor Management: It helps the tractor owners to know their usage and performance.
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Farmer Profiles: Records of the farmers can be availed at farm level, whereby they can develop a financial profile with which they can obtain loans.
Pros
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Financial savings because of wages by having easy access to tractors for farm machinery.
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The mechanization advances the yields for the small scale farmers.
7. Khula!- Country of Origin: South Africa
Khula! is an online marketplace giving farmers an opportunity to link directly with buyers, suppliers, and providers of inputs. It offers farmers an avenue to sell their produce or buy inputs such as seeds and fertilizers or access any other farming services provided on one application.
Features
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Marketplace: The application lets farmers sell their produce directly.
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Input Hub: Here, they are able to purchase seeds, fertilizers, and other farming inputs.
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Farm Services: Farmers receive farming services such as transportation and labour.
Pros
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Gives farmers better prices for their produce since the middlemen are eliminated.
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It’s a one-stop-shop for farmers in all their needs, hence simplifying farmers' work.
How Smart Farming Applications Improve Farm Management
Applications of smart farming offer a plethora of advantages while trying to execute farm management in an enhanced manner. Some of the ways it can be done are as follows:
Improved data accuracy
Any intelligent farming application will have its power distinguished by how well it feeds proper data in due time.
Data with respect to weather forecasts, crop health indicators, even performance metrics from used equipment-these provide farmers with awareness for decision-making and reduce errors while optimizing the activities at farms.
Efficiency Enhancement
The apps make the farming activities easier by automating all kinds of data into one place from various sources. In that respect, time will not be wasted on routine activities, hence freeing the labor that can be utilized in more gainful ways in strategic areas of farm management.
Immediate automated weather updates help farmers plan the irrigation schedule with better precision for good water usage and healthy crops.
Better Management of Resources
Smart farm applications avail ways in which farmers put to good use whatever resources they may have, be it water, fertilizers, or pesticides. The applications avail information on the prevailing conditions of the field and the needs of the crops.
Farmers apply such resources in more focused and productive ways. This helps farmers not only in improving the output of the crops but also reducing waste and minimizing environmental impacts.
Predictive Analytics
Predictive analytics help farmers concentrate on what may likely go wrong. With the assistance of the app, for instance, one can monitor each other pest attack that may fall on their crops and it will therefore raise an alarm in advance until it reaches insurmountable levels.
Weather forecasting tools warn farmers about catastrophic meteorological conditions that may bring losses to their crops.
Challenges and Considerations
However, besides these diverse benefits of smart farming applications, there are a set of challenges and considerations which have to be met in the process of implementing these. These are as follows.
Poor Connectivity
Different kinds of challenges in respect of connectivity are posed when undertaking smart farming app development.
First of all, most rural areas do not have decent access to the internet. These are intelligent farming applications that no doubt require stable access to the internet if farmers are to benefit practically from these applications.
In developing countries, the connectivity is poor, and unless this is addressed, farmers are going to find it difficult to access these tools and might eventually affect the implementation process.
Inadequate Data Security
Farmers take data security and privacy seriously, as they do with any other technology at the line of gathering data. A farmer should, therefore, be keen on the application designed for such protection with adherence to relevant regulation on privacy.
Review your security settings and updates from time to time to protect sensitive information.
Long Learning Curve
New technologies always go through some sort of learning curves. The farmers themselves will invest some time in training and learning to work with these new apps, among others.
Providing them with the necessary support in terms of learning resources could help smoothen the transition, so maximum benefits are derived from smart farming apps.
Trends to Watch in the Future
The landscape of smart farming, therefore, is pretty fluid nowadays, with new technologies coming in to shape its future. Some emergent trends identified include but are not limited to the following:
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Integration of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: More accurate recommendations and forecasts shall be provided for farm management.
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Seamless connectivity with IoT Devices: Integration with IoT devices or Internet of Things shall facilitate seamless capture and analysis of data.
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Increased Sustainability: Further, the next generation of applications can also cover applications for the promotion of eco-friendly ways of farming.
Conclusion
The different kinds of smart farming applications are revolutions in farming because they provide immense power to farmers by supporting the farmers with effective management or treatment of the operation process of farming.
They can also monitor the activities in the field for crop health with an advanced degree of understanding, or it can analyze weather for better use of resources. Besides, they smoothen farm management.
Farmers improve productivity and sustainability by embracing these technologies for even better results from their operations. Agriculture is a very vibrant sector; hence, cognizance of the recent trends in smart farming applications will keep one competitive.
Whether someone is a standing farmer or an up-to-date entrant into the profession, study and application of these tools mean that his or her ways of managing the farm are greatly improved.
