News Categories: Agriculture, Livestock and Cooperative Development

The county government of Nandi through the department of ICT and the department of Agriculture n Cooperative Development, on Thursday, led Aldai Ward Administrators through sensitisation and training on NandE- Farm system.

This is a continuation of the strategies put in place to esure the system is implemented at sub county/ward levels.

NandE- Farm has integrated 2 platforms, DigiFarm by Safaricom that supports service delivery to crop and livestock farmers and DIGICOW by FarmTech company that supports the dairy farmer.

The platform will facilitate effective and quality service delivery. The farmer can request services by dialing a toll free USSD code, get extension services at subsidized cost, access proper records of services enrolled, get quick access of information. It also provides for training and dissemination of information, timely provision of critical services, marketing of agricultural products as well as sending timely reminders to farmers.

In their role to ensure service delivery at the ward level, the agricultural officers are expected to sensitize the farmers on the above functions and benefits of the platform.

They were trained to use the system to:  register farmers, edit farmers details, view current stock volumes, receive stock transferred to service points, redeem vouchers received, create new receipt for transaction, view agro- dealer payments, create and view orders plus viewing the product list.

They are also mandated to maximize on the system to establish, implement and monitor farmer and cooperative performance management at the ward level.

In addition, they should ensure farmers at the ward level are registered to cooperative societies for them to achieve the full benefits of these services provided for by the platform.

Every ward will be assigned one gadget to their two ward agricultural officers to facilitate the process.

The training was held at Aldai NG- CDF conference hall.

In attendance was the trained county government technical team and the Safaricom team.

The County Government of Nandi is continually working with the legislative arm of the County Government to ensure that both parties learn from each other and build on resources and information. Together, it is great to be able to identify areas the Government can improve and progress on towards enabling farmers thrive in full conformity to Sustainable Land and Forest Management (SLFM) policy.

On Monday 27th January, the CECM in charge of Agriculture and Cooperative Development Dr. Kiplimo Araap Lagat chaired a consultative meeting between the County Assembly of Nandi leadership, County Departments of Agriculture and Lands/Environment as well as the legal team to review and validate the Nandi County Sustainable Land & Forest Management draft policy. The purpose of the document is to provide a legislative framework for implementation of Sustainable Land and Forest Management programme in our county.

The policy proposes a broad range of measures and actions responding to key land and forest management issues and challenges. It seeks to provide the framework for an integrated approach to planning and sustainable management of land and forest resources in the County. It recognized the various vulnerable ecosystems and proposes various policy measures not only to mainstream sound environmental management practices in all sectors of society throughout the county but also recommends strong institutional and governance measures to support the achievement of the desired goal and objectives.

Before the review and ratification of the policy, several issues were identified through a participatory approach which involved various stakeholders including agriculture sector institutions and community organizations. These issues had continued to constrain the development of the agriculture sector due to inappropriate use of land and forest management technologies to curb land degradation and encroachment into the forests. The policy issues included; land degradation through human activities, soil erosion, declining soil fertility, poor water management, drying up of water sources such as springs and streams, vulnerabilities due to changes in temperature regimes and precipitation patterns among others. #TransformingNandi

The step wise progression by County’s ICT& e-Government section in automating service delivery by the departments to the citizens is now setting its foot in the Department of Agriculture and Co-operative Development. It is focussing on digitizing Agricultural extension services for farmers through a mobile application and is therefore planning to roll out NandE-Farm system that help Farmers in the timely and effective access of services from extension officers, Veterinary Officers and Artificial inseminators within the County.

NandE-Farm is an integration of two platforms; DIGICOW by FarmTech Company supporting the dairy farmers and DIGIFARM by Safaricom for both Crop and Livestock farmers. The implementation of this system will aid the farmer through: requesting services by just dialing a toll free USSD code, getting the services at subsidized cost through monthly subscription, accessing proper records of the services, quick access to information, ensure quality service delivery by the Officers, acts as the best platform for training and dissemination of information, timely provision of critical services especially emergency services, marketing of agricultural products as well as
sending timely reminders to farmers.

For farmers to enjoy these and other services especially the subsidized veterinary services, they are expected to be members of a registered cooperative society within the county. Farmers who are not members of any cooperative society can equally access these services but with less privileges compared to those registered under cooperatives.

The implementation process of the system just started with the department of Agriculture and Cooperative Development together with ICT and e-Government sub sector rolling out training of all the stakeholders. Among these stakeholders are: ICT technical team,Call Centre agents and officers from the user department (Agriculture and Cooperative Development) especially the Veterinary and extension Officers at the Sub-County and Ward level.

The team from Safaricom and FarmTech
today trained the Technical team. They are also training the call centre agents so as to help the farmers who request services via the County’s Call Centre (1548). After training all stakeholders, the farmers are then registered. Thereafter, the farmer can request the services through their mobile phones via a USSD code that will be provided. The system the dispatches the nearest extension officer to deliver the requested service.

In its pursuit to digitize the entire agricultural value chain and improve service delivery to all stakeholders in Agriculture & Cooperative Development, the County Government of Nandi through the department of ICT & E-Government in partnership with Safaricom on Monday, scheduled and commenced on a week’s training program to county officers technical team in the named departments on the newly established farmers e platform named Nande-Farmers.

The training is set to ensure an effective roll out before the launch of the platform.

Nande-Farmers is a well established ICT-based Agricultural Information Management and Subsidy Platform developed by the County ICT in collaboration with Safaricom Digi farm.

Digi farm is an integrated, free to use mobile platform developed by Safaricom as the technology partner which offers farmers access to a suit of information and financial services.

Nande-Farmers is set to offer a platform for : comprehensive farmers profiling including complete data on households, extension services, quality input, credit& insurance, service delivery and market facilitation. It will also integrate all other agricultural related technologies rolled out in the county such as DigiCow and Rapid Vets to provide one platform/USSD for easy access by farmers.

Speaking during the training, the chief officer in charge ICT & E-government, Jonathan Misoi pointed out that Nande-Farmers will improve value chains in agricultural sector to ensure farmers achieve much more. He added that the platform is key in facilitating His Excellency Hon Stephen Sang transformational development project of cooling plants that will see cooperatives creameries process its milk.

He pointed out that automation is the first step towards the implementation of these strategies and that is why Digifarm has been involved to handle the farm management level of profiling farmers’ information and providing access to the accounted information.

Mr. Misoi stressed on the importance of data in optimizing performance.

“We are living in the decade of data; we cannot make policies as a county government without having ample data for us to make pronouncements in policy for example subsidy management. This will also keep cartel offerings on check and provide for a fair and equitable service provision to all farmers”

The data on registered farmers will allow the county government source vital data for planning and resource allocation as well as extensive services to farmers.

Other technologies to facilitate farmers profiling will be the geospatial mapping. Physical mapping will aid in farm produce aggregation and classification, yield prediction and acreage estimation. The County Government ICT department GIS lab in collaboration with Oakar Services will champion this service.

Chief Officer,ICT & E-Government, Mr Jonathan Misoi

Following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between DigiCow and Nandi dairy cooperative societies in a bid to scale up disruptive digital technologies in Agriculture in Nandi, dairy farmers in cooperatives can now rely on DigiCow, a mobile app that will enable them make daily records of their dairy produce plus access to important information concerning their day to day running of the farm.
Through the app, dairy farmers will be able to analyze production trends of each cow. They can access real time information concerning the behavior of every cow, including milk each cow produces. This makes them well informed on decisions such as type of feed, change of feed or increase quantity of feed which is provided for by the app after analyzing of the produce quality.
It also provides farmers with quality services through their well experienced vets who are vetted and approved by the Kenya Veterinary Board with timely provision of critical services where all tickets are closed within 1 hour request. They also get training at hand, quick access and dissemination of information.
On cooperatives, DigiCow aims to create true visibility through a portal that enables access to reports. This will aid dairy cooperatives make data driven decisions on training needs, breeding, cow herd structures, disease surveillance, milk production and sales.
It also provides simplified reports that will help project milk shortage or glut, cows expected to calve and those dried.
It will also be a key asset in seeing to a reduced cost of production by offering affordable veterinary services to cooperative members at Kshs 450 per farmer per month for upto 10 cows.
The app also provides a platform for dairy cooperatives to train and disseminate timely information to farmers in their language of choice.
Due to the visibility it provides, dairy cooperatives will see an increase of efficiency and effectiveness in services provision to its members and as result increased dairy productivity.
Farmers are encouraged to download the app from Google play. On installation of the app, the farmer is required to register as a member of DigiCow by filling in his name and mobile phone number. On its end, DigiCow verifies the authenticity of the phone number provided. The farmer is sent an activation code which they input in their downloaded App and proceeds to create a secret PIN.
The farmer also provides important details such as the name of the cow, its calf, the co-operative they deal with and their customers.

Chief Officer, Cooperative Development- Dr. Benadatte Tiony

DigiCow App Logo

The County Government of Nandi on Monday presided over the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between dairy cooperative societies and Digicow as the county moves towards digitization of Agriculture extension services to enhance service delivery.

The MoU was signed between DigiCow and three cooperative societies present namely Kabiyet Dairies, Tanykina Dairies and Nandi Dairies Cooperative Union. Others to follow include, Lelchego Dairies, Lessos Dairies, Tinderet Dairies and Adlai Mooi Dairies.

This is a follow up of the formal launch and partnership between 16 counties across the country and the 14 innovators identified through the “Scaling up Disruptive Digital Technologies in Kenya Agriculture” event that was held in April 2019. The event culminated in the identification of 14 most promising digital technology innovators in agriculture who were then awarded membership to the One Million Farmer Platform.

Digicow is one of the 14 Disruptive Agricultural Technologies cohort that was identified and awarded membership to the one million farmer platform. On 9th December 2019, during the launch of the Platform, Nandi Governor H.E Stephen Sang signed an agreement between the County Government of Nandi and DigiCow.

The one million farmer’s platform is an initiative aimed at ensuring up to one million small scale farmers in Kenya can utilize digital solutions to increase their productivity and profitability. Nandi County is looking forward to having over 100,000 farmers in Nandi on the platform by the end of the project.

The initiative is organized around four themes namely: access to productivity services, financial services, markets and data driven applications.

While witnessing the session, CECM Agriculture and Cooperative Development, Dr. Kiplimo Araap Lagat noted that DigiCow will go a long way to ease dairy farmers’ links up and access to extension services.

He asked the cooperatives’ management present to attach value to the technology and mobilize farmers to embrace it as a solution to their pulling of resources.

Dr. Lagat also assured them of the continued support of the county government in leveraging resources available under the National Agricultural & Inclusive Growth Project (NARIGP) and county resources towards investments that will benefit farmers.

On his part, Chief Officer ICT & e-Government Mr. Jonathan Misoi revealed government’s vision to have a data driven policy formulation in not only Agriculture but also in all other departments. It is cognizant to this that he says the County Government through his department has set up a Data/Call centre to gather accurate information key in prudent decision making.

He further hinted a possible synchronization and integration of DigiCow App and already acquired Digi-Farm platform set to be rolled out later this month. “The Government is in talks with Safaricom and DigiCow among other digital solution cohorts to ensure we plug in all Distruptive Agricultural Technologies into our system and have all services offered from one platform” added Misoi.

He challenged farmers to embrace and leverage on technology to increase their productivity and move to the next level.

The county government was also represented by Mr Wilson Lelei, the Chief Officer Agriculture and Dr Benadatte Tiony, The Chief Officer Cooperative Development among other technical staff.

Other stakeholders and partners present include Oakar services, Quadrant softwares, Heifer International. #TransformingNandi

Nandi being a globalized economy has seen women play a very big role in matters cooperative finance.

The county government of Nandi has seen to an increase of women cooperative societies in the past two years.

Every sub county boasts of at least one women cooperative society within its bound.

This is a positive indication women in Nandi are moving towards a more progressive society.

More women’s issues on matters cooperative finance and savings, cooperative development programs, capacity building, cooperative production and marketing are fostered and supported in their alignment with the transformational agenda of Nandi County.

The county government of Nandi through the cooperative development is working closely to tap into the skills, innovations of women in matters cooperative development and to provide solutions to challenges they face and be able to create a competitive economic and social status.

Womenin Nandi are encouraged to join cooperatives and benefit from the advantages it brings.

In its mandate to delegate formation of licensing bodies to bodaboda operators and address issues affecting the sector, the county government of Nandi through the cooperative development unit today presided over the organization of the newly registered Kapsasur bodaboda savings and credit cooperative society limited.
The Sacco will enable Kapsasur bodaboda operators to apply for loans and grants from the savings which will facilitate the efficiency and convenience of their business.
Speaking during the session, sub county cooperative officer Betty Chepchumba congratulated them for the move. She stated that besides it being a major step in the reorganization of bodaboda transport at Kapsasur market centre, it will also inform their need for financial support for the improvement of their economic and social status.
The members were sensitized and guided through cooperative governance and their Sacco cooperative finance policy which was read out and discussed with members.
The Sacco has already made a registration of operators who have complied with the set agreements

sub county cooperative officer engaging with Kapsasur bodaboda operators

Kapsasur bodaboda operators

In these past months, the cooperative unit through the department of agriculture and cooperative development has been involved with cooperative societies attached to the agricultural sector in its aim of working closely with them in formulating, planning and designing viable projects and programs for the improvement of their economic and social status.

To name but a few:

Matters cooperative governance and management were addressed through sensitization and education training programs. It organized and partnered with other key shareholders in ensuring farmers are informed on the benefits of cooperatives and on good cooperative practices. Nandi tea investment cooperative society, Nandi county dairy farmers union, Coffee growers cooperative societies, Nandi cane growers are among those who benefited.

The unit also ensured cooperative societies benefit from projects that are in alignment with their economic activities. There is the Nandi cooperative creameries that will see milk producing primary cooperatives in the county benefit. Also a partnership with Kenya Cereal Enhancement Programme (KCEP) to install commercial maize warehouses in respective sub counties.

The government secured representation of the county at the national level by overseeing elections of delegates to the Cooperative Alliance of Kenya. The delegates are to ensure interests of cooperative societies in Nandi are lobbied for and met at the national and regional level.

The County Government of Nandi through the department of agriculture and cooperative development is not shying away from achieving its transformation agenda of promoting value addition to the agricultural sector through facilitation and support of cooperative societies in the county.

Please feel free to visit the website to access full and detailed information on the above mentioned engagements and other key initiatives of the cooperative unit.

Dr. Bernadette Tiony
CO, Cooperative Development

Starlin Koech
Director, Cooperative Development

The County Government of Nandi joined the rest of the world in celebrating international day of persons with disabilities.

It is a day of optimism that looks towards the future and creation of an environment whereby a person is not characterized by their disabilities but by their abilities.

The county government through its department of agriculture & cooperative department has been an inclusive contributor in ensuring PwDs’ social development goals are achieved in the county.

The Boresha Jamii na Kuku is one initiative that saw PWDs among the special groups in the county who benefitted from the program.

This initiative was inspired by the cooperative to allow them to form enterprises on poultry production, which saw a significant contributor to financial empowerment to farmers.

PwDs are encouraged to create their own enterprises through cooperatives with the objective of social inclusion opportunities such as this.

This will promote equality of opportunity and help break the barriers which disabled people face in taking their place in society.