The County Government of Nakuru in partnership with a government parastatal and tractor hailing service provider partnered to improve food production.
Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation and Hello Tractor Kenya, a tractor hailing service provider will launch a mobile farmer school in Nakuru.
The Director of Kalro in Njoro Godwin Macharia said mechanisation of agriculture was important in ensuring food security by ensuring increased production and reduction of post-harvest losses.
Macharia urged small scale farmers to download the Hello Tractor app saying that it will help the hail machinery conveniently and get timely tractor services.
“The gadget will help monitor machinery, offer systematic ways of providing service to the small scale farmers and maintaining the machines,” said Macharia
He observed that many smallholder farmers had a hard time looking for tractors for their farms while the machinery owners did not have a way of remotely monitoring their equipment, measuring their output and maintaining them.
County Executive Committee Member in charge of Agriculture Immaculate Maina said Nakuru has large land available for agriculture at more than 7,000 square kilometers with 6,000 square kilometers being arable.
“For that amount of land, it is important to mechanise farming for ease of operation and to make it more attractive to the youth,” she said
Speaking during the launch at Kalro branch in Njoro on Saturday, Maina observed that beyond the already practicing farmers, the county government believed that the younger generation will be more attracted to agriculture if there is less menial hard work.
“The future is in mechanisation for the younger farmers for better land preparation, better management of the fuels and of course for better yields,” she added.
She said Hello Kenya has come up with a technology that was mobilising tractors for ease of linking farmers to tractors through a simple app.
Maina said mobile farmer school will be used as a training facility to help farmers understand the benefits of mechanisation in food production.
This will help increase efficiency by reducing menial work as well as saving time and improving the quality of produce.
She said the school will help farmers decipher the importance of mechanised food production to increase yield in addition to using certified seeds.
Hello Tractor is an agricultural technology company that uses mobile technology to help tractor owners manage their equipment and helps small farmers connect with these tractor owners through a digital market place.