No abstract

In most developing countries, a huge proportion of the national food basket is supported by small subsistence agricultural systems. A major challenge to these systems is disease and pest attacks which have a devastating effect on the small-holder farmers that depend on these systems for their livelihoods. A key component of any proposed solution is a good disease surveillance network. However, current surveillance efforts are unable to provide sufficient data for monitoring such phenomena over a vast geographic area efficiently and effectively due to limited resources, both human and financial. Crowdsourcing with farmer crowds that have access to mobile phones offers a viable option to provide all year round real-time surveillance data on viral disease and pest incidence and severity. This work presents a mobile ad hoc surveillance system for monitoring viral diseases and pests in cassava. We present results from a pilot in Uganda where this system was deployed for 76 weeks. We discuss the participation behaviours of the crowds with mobile smartphones as well as the effects of several incentives applied.

One of the perennial causes of food insecurity in Sub‐Saharan African countries is crop pests and diseases that affect agricultural production. To address this concern in Uganda, a mobile phone crowdsourcing Adhoc surveillance tool, Adsurv, was deployed and used by smallholder farmers. Adsurv is a crop health surveillance and monitoring mobile application that facilitates diagnosing and managing crop pests and diseases. Existing literature has examined the impacts of mobile technologies on food security or livelihoods in isolation, but has not conducted a holistic assessment of both. This study on the other hand aimed at assessing the contribution Adsurv made towards improved food security and livelihood assets of the smallholder farmers, which were not fully understood. The study contributes to applying the sustainable livelihood framework (SLF) as theory in evaluating Mobile for Development (M4D) initiatives. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was further adopted to facilitate the development of a hierarchical assessment model of the multidimensional food security and livelihood aspects using data collected from 56 out of the targeted 70 participants. Results show that Adsurv mainly contributed towards food availability rather than utilization or access. These gains mostly enhanced the human assets of the smallholder farmers, empowering them with skills that positively impacted all other assets to support the attainment of sustainable livelihoods. The implication of these results in both research and practice is the need for further research trials, which will motivate farmers to recognize the importance of the nutritional value of food in their agronomic practices.

In most developing countries, a huge proportion of the national food basket is supported by small subsistence agricultural systems. A major challenge to these systems is disease and pest attacks which have a devastating effect on the smallholder farmers that depend on these systems for their livelihoods. A key component of any proposed solution is a good disease surveillance network. However, current surveillance efforts are unable to provide sufficient data for monitoring such phenomena over a vast geographic area efficiently and effectively due to limited resources, both human and financial. Crowdsourcing with farmer crowds that have access to mobile phones offers a viable option to provide all year round real-time surveillance data on viral disease and pest incidence and severity. This work presents a mobile ad hoc surveillance system for monitoring viral diseases and pests in cassava. We present results from a pilot in Uganda where this system was deployed for 76 weeks. We discuss the participation behaviours of the crowds with mobile smartphones as well as the effects of several incentives applied.