Picture losing your phone and having to search for it in the house. Now imagine if you had to search for it, not only in your home but in 6,000 other homes as well.
This is the scenario that pastoralists are faced with every day as they search for pasture and water for their animals.
In Kajiado County alone the land is so vast, the grazing area is 6,000 acres and getting it right is a combination of many uncertainties.
Failure means certain death for their animals.
To address this issue, Project Concern International (PCI) in partnership with Google launched AfriScout, the mobile app that will help pastoralists find pasture and water in parts of Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia.
Thanks to this solution, pastoralists will no longer have to walk for miles searching for pasture and water; or have their animals die as they watch in despair.
The AfriScout app simplifies their lives as it makes search for pastures and water easier.
Peter Kakanyi, 62, a pastoralist from Tanzania was in Kenya, not in search of pasture, but as living proof that indeed the app had transformed their lives for better. Mr Kakanyi has three wives and several children and relies on his herd of 200 cows to take care of them.
He no longer has to walk for long searching for pasture but relies on AfriScout that uses community defined, custom grazing maps overlaid with satellite vegetation data that is continuously updated. He accesses the app via his mobile phone and it helps him guide his cows to water and pasture with amazing accuracy.
“My father had a lot of cows which I inherited and I have kept the herd growing,” says Kakanyi. “Ten to 20 years ago, persistent droughts were unheard of and pasture was not a problem; but today it has not rained substantially in five years and grass is scarce,” he adds.
He went on: “This app has saved me a lot of money and time because I used to spend well over Sh10,000 scouting for pasture. I had to pay my travelling expenses and lodging fees, and would be on the road for many days. Now I do not go through so much trouble.”
Previously, pastoralists had to go through great lengths to sustain their cattle.
“While scouting for grass I would walk to different areas searching for a “Llomon” (a meeting of elders where each person gives a report of the area he comes from). It is in this forum that one would sit waiting to hear if it has rained in a certain area and if there is pasture,” says Kakanyi.
Kakanyi comfortably shows me the working of the app from his phone. His home is in Longido, Arusha and currently, his cows and sheep are stationed at a place called Lepurko.
He has employed a Moran to herd and guard his animals. The Moran moves with a family member and is paid a monthly salary. “I no longer worry because when the pasture gets finished in Lepurko, I only need to look at the maps in my phone to identify other areas with water and pasture.
I will then direct my Moran to the most favourable area, advising him on the safest route and so my cows will move with precision and not guesswork.” Kakanyi says. Isaac ole Kayei, a pastoralist from Uasu Kidong, also uses the app.
Ole Kayei has 92 cows, 242 sheep and 143 goats and he too relies on the Afriscout app to find pasture and water for his animals. He also uses the app to monitor his cow feeding routines.
