You know what they say, absentee farming is a recipe for disaster.
However, technology is increasingly providing solutions for farmers to maintain oversight of their operations remotely. Given the impossibility of constant on-site presence, a straightforward device has proven effective in reducing the risks associated with absentee farming, allowing for continued monitoring of farm activities.
From Nairobi, Kenya and known as Ken The Farmer on social media, he is one of the young agricultural entrepreneurs empowering and spreading knowledge.
He embraces technology to improve farm efficiency and environmental impact. His latest addition is the use of solar-powered CCTV cameras to monitor productivity on his farm and also communicate with his staff.
“Technology is really saving farmers’ blood pressure .
This small tool here is helping me manage my farm in Kenya while I’m still in The Gambia,” he wrote on Facebook.
According to Ken, the device is suitable and takes away the burden on farm owners in terms of dishonesty among staff.
“It’s a solar-powered CCTV camera with two-way audio. I can hear what my team back home is saying, and I can talk to them just like a normal phone call. No excuses, no “network ilikuwa mbaya” stories.”
It also has a storage disk where I can replay exactly what happened and at what time. Today I even paid for cloud storage, meaning months later I can still go back and see what was happening on the farm. Accountability!
Aside from the farm, Ken is also relying on the device to communicate with his mother in the village.
“I have several of these, but my favorite one is the one I installed a few days before leaving Kenya, at my mum’s place. Now, my mum is the kind of strong village woman who can leave her phone in the bedroom and work the whole day without touching it. If you call, you’ll wait.”
“So these days, I just open the CCTV on my phone, check where she is, and talk to her directly.”
“Trust me,this thing has saved my anger.”
Technologia.
Meanwhile, a Ghanaian Agronomist, Alex Afari also attested to the effectiveness of the device.
