Digital pen: a hot tool to identify, track and respond to emergencies

Post by Tsehay Gashaw (FAOSFE)

 
Mobile technology plays an important role helping people make decisions, policy makers assess options, researchers collect data more effectively.

Digital pens were a topic of keen attention in this week’s plenary discussions on mobile devices. Joseph Matere from FAO Kenya explained that the digital pen is a rapid way to collect, collate and share information and data. He explained how it is being used as part of animal disease surveillance systems to identify and track disease outbreaks in Kenya.

Previously,  it took four to six weeks for a disease to be identified and mitigation measures provided. Often, animals had died and the disease was spread to a very large area. The digital pen helps us deliver rapid identification and diagnoses of diseases – and rapid responses!

The digital pen is a ‘simple’ pen with a built in camera and processor that works with special ‘dot matrix’ paper.
 

Technological Innovation: a New Path to Empower Farmers

The landscape for information communications and technology is shifting progressively within the African continent. Currently, half of the continent's population of over 1 billion, owns a mobile phone; making the continent the fastest-growing mobile market globally. This development has been driven significantly by the private sector, focusing on urban areas. Increasing access to ICT in rural areas can bridge the information gap connecting rural populations, particularly farmers, to critical information to improve skills and knowledge enhancing individual livelihoods.

In the Horn of Africa, interactive sessions using broadcast and mobile technology have been developed to create innovative platforms for rural farmers to gain relevant and timely information on market prices, expected seasonal patterns, and agriculture and environmental practices. Developing mobile technologies to monitor food security and prepare for shocks to food security is another dynamic area being developed within the region. However, actors have been faced with challenges in developing suitable mobile technologies for data collection and widening access of these technologies to the poorest of the poor.

Within the AgriKnowledge ShareFair, a forum will be created to discuss experiences of using mobile technology for Natural disaster early warning systems and monitoring and developing cash voucher systems. Opening the floor to presenters including ACTED, Oxfam and CALAP, discussions could result in new solutions to overcome the burden, challenges and to sustainably scale-up the use of mobile technologies in the region.

Do you think technology and innovation can make a difference in food and nutrition in the horn of Africa?