Abstract:
Agricultural professionals are constantly in the search of innovative ways to engage farmers
and timely dissemination of information. Smartphone application is one of the popular avenues
used in some countries, to engage farmers and disseminate information. This study was conducted
to assess the use of Swahili based agricultural apps in Tanzania. Virtual product snowball sampling
was used to identify Swahili based agricultural apps in android Google Play Store for sixty days
i.e. November to December 2020. The findings show that at least 23 Swahili based agricultural
apps were available in android Google Play. The oldest of identified apps was released on 2017,
which suggest that the use of customised apps to reach farmers is a new phenomenon in Tanzania.
Content of the identified apps show that three apps (13%) provide exclusively information on
poultry farming; others have general information on crops and livestock. The content on fisheries
and aquaculture is notably meagre in the existing livestock apps. Most (83.2%) of the apps had
less than 10,000 downloads and only one app has reached 100,000. The users’ opinions are skewed
to positive. Taking into account the number of farmers and adoption rate of internet based smart
phones in Tanzania, downloads figures suggest that existing apps are under-utilised. The study
concludes that the use of Swahili based agricultural apps is a new practice at the early stage
of adoption, which should be harnessed for timely and fruitful engagement with farmers and
transformation of extension services in Tanzania.
