Kenya gamifies climate change to help farmers

Kenya is gamifying climate change — challenging farmers to guess the rain in a bid to reach a remote audience with agricultural advice and ensure yields stay steady as climates change.

Created by The Mediae Company, the “Let it rain” challenge launches on February 1, when farmers will be free to take to their mobile phones to predict what day the rainy season will start.

Not only will winners receive a cash prize of up to Sh100,000 shillings, but every entrant will gain free access to iShamba, a farmers’ information service.

Shamba means “farm” in Swahili and the online service - which already has 300,000 subscribers - offers advice on everything from pests to plants.

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Project coordinator Sophie Rottmann said Mediae came up with the game after working with farmers on a farm makeover reality show - Shamba Shape Up - which regularly draws 5 million viewers after a decade on air.

“One of the key issues is they never know when the rains are coming and, as a result, they will plant too early or harvest too late,” said Rottmann. “So we came up with the idea of gamifying the issue to engage farmers in the conversation, and give them access to information through the iShamba service.”

Climate change is taking a toll across east Africa, with erratic weather hitting Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia. Since October, floods sparked by heavy rains have inundated farmland, swamped villages, destroyed infrastructure and displaced tens of thousands of people across the country.

Landslides in northwestern Kenya — triggered by unusually heavy rains — killed at least 56 people over the weekend.

 [Thomson Reuters Foundation]

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