The Institute for Food Nutrition and Wellbeing (IFNuW) at the University of Pretoria has created an application in a bid to improve food security for the poorest communities in SA.
The app - Smart Grow - was developed by Corne van der Merwe, an IT Masters student, with graphic design help from Marguerite Hartzenberg from design agency, Active Space. It took three weeks to develop.
The app is free to download from the University of Pretoria Web site and works on seven-inch tablets and smartphones.
Van der Merwe is working on converting the app to allow for downloads on other size tablets and Android phones. These will be available by the end of the year. He will publish it in the Google Play store before the end of the year.
"We are only catering for Android devices since these are cheaper and more accessible to the communities in which we work. The app can easily be transferred over to Apple but this requires annual application development fees and payment for the software to code for Apple. This would increase the costs. We would like to keep it as a free app," says research lead, professor Sheryl Hendriks.
The team also plans to offer the app in local languages and is working in Ingzuza Hill (Eastern Cape), Jozini (KwaZulu-Natal), Maruleng (Limpopo), and Ratlou (North West).
Following research surrounding which crops are grown in four of SA's poorest communities, and combining it with food composition data to understand the nutritional value of different crops, the team developed recommendations on how communities can grow food that addresses their nutritional needs.
They communicate this insight to empower people not only through printed materials but via technology.
"When working in the field collecting data, we were surprised how tech-savvy the young people employed as survey enumerators in these communities were. We realised there was an opportunity to make the recommendations available through this technology, putting the recommendations into the hands of farmers and young people," says Hendriks.
Van der Merwe developed Smart Grow, a smartphone app to make the recommendations available electronically. "Despite the rural location, millennials can help us empower their elders to grow nutritional crops to supplement their diet," adds Hendriks.
According to IFNuW, it is well-documented that 54% of South Africans live below the poverty line. It notes diets of mostly maize and bread cannot provide adequate nutrition. Many communities turn to subsistence agriculture to bridge this nutritional gap, but in the marginal farming areas that make up large parts of rural SA, they struggle to grow enough food to meet their nutritional requirements, the institute adds.
"The findings of the study and the recommendations can empower communities in taking responsibility for their nutrition by providing them with locally-relevant information while helping government and NGOs design more appropriate agriculture-based interventions," Hendriks points out.
"We did not ask how many households had smartphones but we do know the average household had two phones. It seems there are smartphones in the communities and so people could ask a neighbour to let them use the app but extension officers have been issued with seven-inch tablets. They could also approach the local school to assist with access if they have been issued with tablets for learning."
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