Staff Reporter

Zimbabwe telecommunications giant, TelOne has launched a crop monitoring programme aimed at achieving a self-sufficient Zimbabwe by year 2030.

During the launch of TelOne Crop Monitoring Programme (TCMP), Head of Marketing and Business development, Moline Chirambaguwha said TCMP was a programme that uses satellite images to give accurate crop monitoring and soil water saturation content to farmers, agricultural insurers, banks and farming contractors at a low charge of US$2-00.

“This product is about using technology to assist the farmer in monitoring their fields. In cases where farmers have 100 hectares, it is almost impossible to monitor all of the crops manually. With TCMP, it is a different ball game all together. What we have done is to use satellite technology to look into indices and parameters to do with crops. Every five days satellite takes images over Zimbabwe and it is these images we are tapping into to calculate crop health and density of vegetation. From the images provided on users’ display, green indicates dense and healthy crop whilst lighter colour to yellow indicates pass vegetation.

“As far as soils moisture is concerned, dark blue colour indicates wet soil whilst blue indicates drier soils. Through this, a farmer or user of this programme is able to tell which areas require irrigation,” said Chirambaguwha.

Speaking on the side-lines of TelOne TelOne Crop Monitoring Programme, Head of Innovation Tariro Nyakudza said TCMP was an advantage to the Government, farming contractors and insurers as it allows them to monitor progress on crops which they will have invested in. She said in situations where Government would have provided farming inputs for projects such as Command Agriculture, TCMP can be used by Government to protect its investments by determining which farms or areas would require urgent attention.

Development of TCMP comes after President Emmerson Mnangagwa has continuously encouraged local companies to find ways on how Agriculture and Information Communication and Technology (ICT) can be integrated to create a more efficient farming system.

 Meanwhile, the erratic weather patterns due to global warming have led the Second Republic to vigorously spearhead the interaction between ICT and Agriculture to ensure food security.