Agritouch App to give farmers easy access to information

By Talaia Mika

APIA, SAMOA – 08 MARCH 2022: Efforts to give Samoan farmers easy access to information using the internet have resulted in the Agritouch Application that was launched yesterday by the farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture and international partners such as UNDP and UNESCO.

The Agritouch Application gives farmers access to a wide range of information about their crops, the weather, soil health, markets and more using their smart phones.

Held at Taumeasina Island resort, the App was launched by the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Laaulialemalietoa Polataivao Schmidt who urged the farmers to take advantage of information to better farming.

The App was developed under the Samoa Knowledge Society Initiative (SKSI) which is funded by the Indian-UN Development Partnership Fund that also provided a Digital Library for the National University of Samoa.

The Agritouch App was developed based on consultations with the farmers in July to October 2021 while the original idea was to facilitate knowledge sharing through mobile technology available to the farmers.

The application was designed by a group of farmers during consultations last year and built by the Tooa Brown through the partnership between the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Brown Consultancy, UNDP and UNESCO.

Generally, the farmers saw the value in the App and suggested the next steps to improve it to better suit their needs.

The Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Laaulialemalietoa Polataivao Schmidt and United Nations Resident Coordinator Simona Marinescu at the launch.

The application aims to resolve the constant challenges experienced by farmers and provides information on pests and diseases, technical advice on the right chemicals to use for crops, weather conditions, harvesting, marketing and prices and more.

The App is on both Apple store and Google Store and is in Samoan and English languages.

The Minister of Agriculture however noted that the App can only be accessed using a smart phone and this may limit the number of farmers who can afford smart phones to use the App. He also pointed out to the CEO of the Ministry the need for fast and reliable connectivity around the country to ensure the app serves the purpose it was developed for.

The CEO of the Ministry, Tilafono David Hunter acknowledged the Ministers’ concerns and suggested it a possible area for future assistance by one of the projects partners, UNDP.

The United Nations Resident Coordinator Simona Marinescu acknowledged the project as part of SKIS information on digital platforms for Samoa such as the Digital Library at NUS and open space for research not only for students but the public.

She said that the objective of all United Nations work is to ensure people’s lives are improved.

This is the first App developed by the Ministry in collaboration with farmers and it is aimed at building a foundation to utilize technology to improve the Ministry’s services and collaboration to improve the farmer’s production and output.

The Minister acknowledged the support from UNESCO and funding support from the Indian-UN Development Partnership Fund.