Liquid Telecom Kenya has deployed an Internet of Things (IoT) network in Western Kenya and Nyanza to monitor and protect freshwater fish populations after connecting ten pilot-phase sensors that monitor water temperature and pH values in ponds. The sensors send information and feeding instructions to farmers through an Android and iOS app called AquaRech, which has been developed by the Kisumu innovation technology hub LakeHub and developers Pinovate.
The partnership will equip 5,000 western Kenyan farmers with the sensors and app by the end of 2019. There are some 20,000 fish farmers in western Kenya with an average of 2 fishponds each and around 2,400 fish per pond. The programme will eventually be rolled out to 30,000 fish pond farmers countrywide helping to increase fish production.
Using IoT-connected sensors to calculate optimal feeding times was found to reduce fish deaths by 30-40% in a one-year study in Iran by information technology company Afarinesh Samaneh Mehr Engineering Co. (ASM). Liquid Telecom Kenya is continuing to roll-out its Sigfox IoT network across Kenya which is being used for a range of IoT applications.
In December, the company partnered with Africa’s largest non-profit civic technology network Code for Africa (CfA) to install air quality sensors at 3,000 sites across Kenya, following warnings that air pollution is killing more than 20,000 Kenyans a year.