July 2016—Dairy farmers from the Siongiroi Dairy Farmers Cooperative in Kenya are enjoying increased profits after adopting a mobile app that helps them get better value for their milk. It also helps them generate more income and gain better access to financial services and animal health products and services.
Many rural dairy farmers like Salim Ng’etich from Bomet County incur losses caused by inaccurate milk weighing and recording as well as brokers who buy the milk at low prices.
A solution came in 2014 when Amtech Technologies Ltd. developed and field-tested EASYMA 6.0, a mobile-based system that provides farmers with automated milk weighing and receipts at the farm. Farmers get a receipt for their deliveries when the milk is weighed, which reflects immediately in the dairy cooperative’s system and at the farmers’ savings and credit cooperatives.
The system was created with support from the Kenya Innovation Engine, part of the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative, Feed the Future, which is implemented by USAID.
The EASYMA 6.0 mobile innovation is transforming dairy farmers’ lives in Nandi and Bomet counties. About 8,000 members of the Kabiyet and Siongiroi dairy cooperatives now have access to extension services like financial products, livestock artificial insemination and insurance through the system, earning credit for the amount of milk they deliver.
The innovation tracks all advances; deductions for artificial insemination, feeds and hardware supplies; as well as loans and payments to farmers. It also links savings and credit cooperatives to banks, allowing farmers to access their money through automated teller machines or points of sale around Kenya.
Agro-vet stores owned by Siongiroi Dairy are also recording increases in sales. The mobile system has linked farmers to the stores—which supply animal feeds, health products and services—and allows them to purchase the products with credit and pay through their daily milk deliveries.
“I’m always paid on time,” said Ng’etich. “I can receive an advance loan when I don’t have money, plus I get products from the agro-vet and access timely AI [artificial insemination] services by sending an SMS [text message] to the system.”
Amtech Technologies Ltd. aims to reach about 70,000 dairy farmers with EASYMA 6.0 in Elgeyo Marakwet, Uasin Gishu, Nandi, Kericho, Taita Taveta, Meru and Bomet counties.
The Kenya Innovation Engine project, which runs from 2012 to 2017, partners with entrepreneurs to maximize the commercial potential of their new products and services as well as the nutritional and livelihood benefits to targeted communities. The Innovation Engine supports experimentation and rewards proven successes that serve thousands of Kenyan families. Over $1.2 million has been invested in a total of 17 innovations awarded to date.
LINKS
Follow @USAIDKenya, on Facebook, on Flickr, on YouTube
,“I’m always paid on time and I can receive an advance loan when I don’t have money.”
Eric Onylego, USAID