Great Farming Apps for Mobile

[bonama]

The Farming season is here. The usual routine is to head to the farms and engage in land preparation and planting. How about harnessing technology that we take for granted for the good of our farms. The humble smart phone has morphed from a device we use to stay in touch to a supercomputer we carry about in our pockets. How about harnessing that idle power for some good farm activities.

Smart farming requires the use of modern tools to become more competitive. Phones can provide the raw power needed for agropreneurs, enabling them to perform critical tasks wherever and whenever it is needed. The possibilities are enormous; from site selection, pest management, farm inventory and managing agronomic data, to creating farm maps, there is virtually no farming related job a farming app can’t do. An developers are not disappointing in this regard as there are 100s of apps out there that can help anyone farm better. I must state that most of the apps may be designed for companies tailored to recommend their products or for US/Europe in mind. Nothing stops you from adapting them for your use.
Here are a list of five interesting ones I can find. You may add yours to the list!

(1) iSOYLscout is a simple-to-use app that can be used for field scouting. Simply record areas or points of interest either by hand, or while on the move on foot or in a vehicle using the built-in GPS. The app can be used to record crop performance and weed infestations, as well as any other feature you want to locate across the farm. Each logged feature provides an instant area measurement. Points of interest are recorded with a text label such as ‘Broad weed’. Notes and/or a photo can also be added to the point. iSOYLscout files are uploaded to mySOYL, OneDrive, or Dropbox allowing your scouted data to be wirelessly and efficiently transferred between field and office. Operating System – IOS

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(2) AgVaulty 2.0 Mobile /Sentera – If you are the adventurous type and you have a really large farm, this app is for you. It allows the user to have an areal view of your farm to monitor growth, yield, results of chemical application or encroachment and the like. The app allows you to easily control a DJI Phantom 4, 3 or inspire drone (about N150,000) by setting the parameters of flight (altitude, sensor configuration, side-slip and the area of survey. The drone will use the parameters configured in app and flies the route and returns upon completion with the video. Great to check for intrusion and surveillance. The advantage is that you can survey your farm in minutes and more frequently that manually walking the boundaries. The app works on Android, iphone and Ipad

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(3) Yara ImageIT/ Yara international – nitrogen intake is very important for the growth and development of plants. The yara image app measures the nitrogen uptake of a crop and generate a nitrogen recommendation based on photographs of the plant. The app calculates the nitrogen uptake based on leaf cover, colour and the ratio of brown leaves and shows the user the quantity of nitrogen to apply to obtain the optimal yeild and crop quality. Since the app is tied to a company, Yara international, expect recommendations tailored to the products by the company. But hey, who says you cant get what is recommended in Nigeria. The app works on Andriod, iphone and Ipad

(4) FarmLogs - This FarmLogs give a farmer tons of functionality. It enables farmers to collect and log detailed farm information on a per-field basis. It also enables them to make task lists, track rainfall history, plan and budget as the season unfolds, manage inventory and more.

(5) Agrobase
Agrobase provides a database with agronomic information on weeds, diseases and pests, including diverse pesticides, herbicides and pesticides details from the selected country. Allows farmers to identify pests, insects and diseases early enough to guarantee crop production and protection. The app has been used widely by livestock, horticultural, nut, fruit, vegetable and crop farmers to protect their investment and accomplish higher returns. Constantly updated database offers links to a problem, including a detailed description of the issue and a photo. The app works on Android, iphone and Ipad.

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(6) myRML For Farmers
myRML is a light weight Android app with easy to use interface. It is available in 10 different languages. It provide rich agriculture content and information at every stage of crop cycle. Farmer can choose from 450 crop varieties, 1300 markets, 3500 weather locations. Made for the Indian market, but nothing stops you from adapting it for the Nigerian market. The app works on Andriod, iphone and Ipad.

(7) Vegetable Farming
This app deals specially with vegetable farming and provides various ways of farming vegetables and also provide guidelines for surrounding of different vegetables. It also inform about the various diseases of vegetables and their treatments. It Is a light weight and must have in all Android apps for farmers.

(8) VetAfrica
VetAfrica allows any farmer to record their livestock data in the process obtaining diagnostic guidance and advice on the most ideal treatment.
Information on diseases is provided, such as Schistosomiasis, anaplasmosis, theileriosis, parasiti gastroenteritis and trypanosomiasis among others.

(9) Urban Farming App
This app shows how to grow vegetables with ease through constant interactive reminders. Your smart phone will constantly remind you when your plants need some type of care such as fertilizer or water and how to solve the issue of crop disease and common crop pests.
Apart from information on growing organic, delicious recipes are provided to prepare organic delicacies with ease.

(9) Dairy Live
This management software app allows a herd farmer to work smart. Once information of livestock and events such as pregnancy check, vaccinations, semen inventories and breeding is fed into the app, a farmer can be able to instantly access and track the livestock information from wherever

(10) Windy
Any farmer needs a great weather app. For rain fed farming, the timing of the rains are critical for activities such as application of fertilizer, planning farming activities and the like. Windy is very accurate and relies on two great weather forecasting model; the more accurate European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecast (ECMRWF) and the Global Forecast System (GFM). The ECMRWF is generally more accurate with a variety of weather phenomenon to choose from. The app provides for up to 10 days forecast showing intensity of rain, wind, dust etc.

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