Indigenous crop practices and knowledge are better adapted to the effects of climate change: designing a system to capture these practices on sorghum in Kenya

Abstract

We developed and deployed a mobile/smartphone application in Tharaka, Kenya (see Figure 1) that tracks farmers throughout the production cycle and provides relevant information at the current stage of the production process, thus facilitating the implementation of the farmer's proposed practice on indigenous sorghum cultivation. Seventy-five percent of users, including farmers, agricultural extension agents, researchers, and agricultural input suppliers, rated the application as satisfactory. Using the application enabled farmers to integrate their practices and knowledge into traditional crops, particularly sorghum. "These traditional crops have the potential to counteract food insecurity due to their drought tolerance and ability to thrive in a wide range of soils," said Prof. Oboko et al. (2016).