Smart weather app helps Kenya s herders brace for drought
Tuesday, 16 February 2021 12:52 GMT
A young man at Merille Livestock Market in northern Kenya receives a call to alert him of the week’s weather forecast transmitted through the myAnga app, Merille, Kenya, on Feb. 2, 2021. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Kagondu Njagi
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Share: App gets forecasts from virtual weather stations Information can save herders scouting as far as 120 km Illiteracy and low smartphone access limit app s reach
By Kagondu Njagi
MERILLE, Kenya, Feb 16 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Sitting under a low tree to escape the blazing Kenyan sun, Kaltuma Milkalkona and two young men hunch intently over the older woman s smartphone - but they are not transfixed by the latest sports scores or a trending internet meme.
This Weather App Helps Kenyan Herders Save Livestock and Their Livelihoods
The myAnga app limits livestock death by predicting extreme and erratic weather patterns.
By Kagondu Njagi
MERILLE, Kenya, Feb 16 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) Sitting under a low tree to escape the blazing Kenyan sun, Kaltuma Milkalkona and two young men hunch intently over the older woman s smartphone but they are not transfixed by the latest sports scores or a trending internet meme.
The men instead are looking at a weather alert for their village in the country s north, sent through an app that uses weather station data to help pastoralists prepare for drought.
Kagondu Njagi for Reuters
Sitting on a low bench at her shop in a Nairobi slum, Grace Wangari sifted through a handful of grains that a waiting customer had just ordered.
As she poured them into a shopping bag, the customer scrolled through her phone to pay for the purchase.
People wear face masks while queueing during a mass testing for Covid-19. File photo.
Photo: AFP
Normally, Wangari would have been paid in shilling notes, Kenya s hard currency, but in some ways she preferred the digital payment that was instantly transferred to her phone. I am happy with this transaction because there is no risk of losing my stock to conmen or people who have come to take goods on credit, said Wangari, a middle-aged trader in Mukuru Kayiaba, one of the city s poorest slums.