On Nane Nane (Farmer’s Day) in Tanzania, Justdiggit Foundation launched Kijani, a free educational regreening app designed to benefit 350 million smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Kijani (‘green’ in Swahili) will provide farmers with all the tools they need to successfully regreen their farms including digital courses on proven methods to improve yields, soil health, and livelihood resilience. Kijani aims to accelerate the impact of Justdiggit’s regreening programmes by fully utilising the rapidly growing adoption of smartphones in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Kijani app uses GPS data technology to offer personalised advice to each farmer based on their location and individual circumstances. This enables Justdiggit to assist farmers in regreening their land on a large scale without needing to be physically present.
Previous tests have shown that regreening methods are best taught by digitally engaging farmers through visual content. After the course, people can track both their progress and impact by uploading pictures of their work. On the backend, Justdiggit monitors impact at scale and uses satellite imagery to validate the reported impact. Furthermore, farmers are supported through a virtual helpdesk and relevant notifications.
”After more than a decade of training farmers and pastoralists on regreening methods in landscape restoration programs, we feel it is time for the next step – to scale exponentially. Launching Kijani means that regreening educational content and rural communication tools will now be accessible to everyone, which enables us to create a giant leap in landscape restoration across Sub-Saharan Africa, bringing us one step closer to achieving our goal of reaching 350 million smallholder farmers,” Marjolein Albers, CEO of Justdiggit.
“Organisations always give education and disappear, but this is the better option. I can download the app and it stays on my phone. Now I have a better chance of learning today and tomorrow,” said a farmer from Owerendeke village, Arusha region, Tanzania.
Over the last few months, Justdiggit has done extensive user tests with hundreds of Tanzanian farmers all over the country. These tests have shown that physical training is no longer necessary; digital content alone can provide the benefits. This reinforces the organisation’s belief that digital regreening can significantly accelerate the regreening of our planet, contributing to ecosystem recovery, a cooler climate, and the creation of climate-resilient communities.
The Kijani app can be downloaded for free in the Google Play Store from the 8th of August and is available in Kiswahili and English. Later this year the app will be made available in other African countries and more languages will be added.
For more news like this, click here
