DIRAJ DIRAJ DIRAJ
  • fr
  • Stories
  • About
  • Resources
  • Grant
  • Events
  • Members
  • Join us!
press Enter to search
Feature Story

Smart weather app helps Kenya’s herders brace for drought

23 February 2021
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

David Njagi

Freelance Journalist

Topic Drought, Early Warning.
Country Kenya.

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.

The myAnga app on Milkalkona’s phone showed that Merille would continue facing dry weather and that “pasture conditions (were) expected to be very poor with no grass and browse availability.” One of the young men said he would warn his older brother, who had taken the family’s livestock to another area where there was water and pasture, not to come home yet.

Milkalkona, 42, who lives and sells clothing in the neighbouring town of Laisamis, said she often shared data from her phone with others who did not have smartphones. “When I get the weather alerts, I usually show the people who are close to me,” she said, as well as calling others in more distant villages.

Extreme and erratic weather linked to a warming climate can be devastating for Kenya’s pastoralists, with prolonged droughts making it difficult to find enough pasture for their animals.

But armed with up-to-date weather information and advice, herders can plan ahead to ensure their livestock make it through the region’s frequent dry spells, said Frankline Agolla, co-founder of Amfratech, a Nairobi-based social enterprise that developed the myAnga app.

Read the rest of the article here.

Share

Related Stories

  • Photo:IFAD
    14 July 2020

    Protecting livestock through droughts and floods

    Interview

  • 21 May 2020

    How a near-famine in Kenya turned journalists into activists

    Interview

  • 10 January 2022

    Kenya’s ASALs adopt alternative livelihood strategies for climate change mitigation

    Feature Story

  • 25 February 2022

    Early Warning: Nairobi situation room to help reduce disasters in the Horn of Africa

    Feature Story

DIRAJ

Supported by

DIRAJ
  • © 2023 DIRAJ
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Stories
  • About
  • Events
  • Resources
  • Members
  • Join us!