Young cricketer batting for Zim’s agric
WHITE-COLLAR jobs were once the envy of many as they were considered decent and rewarding. However, a new wave is sweeping through Zimbabwe’s agriculture.
Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga recently rallied the youth to bring their technological expertise and innovation to the sector.
“Youths are the present and the future of our country,” he said at the 2023 Young Farmer Excellence Awards in Harare a fortnight ago.
Among the rising stars in the sector is 28-year-old Patrick Mambo, whose mission is to revolutionise farming practices by ensuring farmers can navigate the challenges of climate change, pests and diseases.
Through his groundbreaking mobile phone software, Agrilytics, Mambo is empowering farmers with vital information and proactive solutions, making him a valuable asset in the journey towards Vision 2030.
“Technology is the future of agriculture; with just a click of a button, things must start to happen,” Mambo told The Sunday Mail.
The former Zimbabwe Under-19 cricketer, who has been playing the game for 21 years, said his wish is now to positively contribute to the country’s agriculture.
“I never quite broke into the senior national team after playing for Zimbabwe Under-19, so I decided to retire earlier, at the age of 25, and focus on building a career in business that would hopefully have a positive impact on Zimbabwe,” he said.
“At Agrilytics, we have become more than software developers, but agricultural pioneers in technology.”
The software, he added, ensures a farmer has control of farming activities while in the office.
“The farmer is able to track progress and detect any setbacks in production.”
The former Hellenic Academy learner also said the software can be used to detect any invasion by pests if workers use GPS- and internet-connected gadgets.
“If your worker comes across new pests in the field, they just take pictures with linked devices and they will automatically sync with the main server. This is critical in precision farming. The farmer will be able to know where such pests are concentrated, and will have to spray chemicals in specific areas, rather than wasting pesticides spraying the whole field.”
The software lets the farmer do precision irrigation system management, providing plants with the correct amounts of water required at the right time. Regarding livestock, he said animals are fitted with tracking devices to detect their behaviour and activities throughout the day.
“Equipped with such a device, you receive warnings on your mobile phone and be able to detect that a certain animal is not well and attend to it on time,” he said.
The software — which Mambo created with his partners, Atherton Squire and Tobias van Schalkwyk — can provide information on weather patterns. It can also assist in field hive monitoring and bee counts; security incident capture; pest scouting; and trap monitoring.
Further, it enables the farmer to track each employee’s work rate.
Mambo said after graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce in Business Management Sciences degree from Stellenbosch University, South Africa, and working as a data analyst with food manufacturing companies in Zimbabwe, he realised the importance of capturing data in production processes. To complement Mambo’s efforts, Husqvarna Zimbabwe has come up with farm assets security technology. The company’s workshop manager, Mr Tanaka Mapengo, said assets security can also be linked to the same mobile phone with Agrilytics.
“Farm assets security can also be guaranteed using the same mobile phone. The sensors we connect to your fleet will send you information on how your equipment is being used and their location,” he said.
After acquiring the full package, a farmer will literally have full control of farm operations using their mobile phone. While developed nations turn to robots, artificial intelligence and machine learning to solve challenges in agriculture, simple mobile phone-based offerings seem to be equal to the task, experts say. It is widely believed the advent of technology and tools like Agrilytics will lure more youths into farming. Youths constitute over 67 percent of the local population.
◆ X: @TheseusShambare