www.infonet-biovision.org information platform aims to strenghten sustainable development of farmers and rural communities in Africa by making information on key topics available through an online library and an offline version on CD. We support a wide range of audience including farmers, extension practitioners, students and researchers to access relevant, scientifically proven and practical information on sustainable agriculture, livestock, health and environmental conservation issues.

See more on our about us page

• The Organic Farmer (TOF) is an independent and sustainable publication with local relevant and ecologically sound information which is both appropriate and applicable for farmers in East Africa.The magazine is distributed free of charge to interested farmer groups in Kenya. Check our TOF page on infonet with a keyword search for all magazines and audio data for download.http://www.organicfarmermagazine.org


• iCow is a comprehensive agricultural platform, developed for small scale farmers, accessible by mobile phone and web. Features include the cow gestation calendar, iCow Soko livestock market, access to agricultural extension service experts and much more. iCow is available on the short code 5024 in Kenya on Safaricom, Orange and Airtel networks. http://icow.co.ke/

• Information on major crops, vegetables and fruits prevalent in East Africa, including crop husbandry, soil and water management, cultural methods and organic pest management, with illustrated descriptions for quick and accurate identification of crop pests and diseases.


• Information on major crop pests, diseases, weeds and natural enemies common in East Africa; common names in different languages, regional distribution maps and lots of images and illustrations for easy identification


• Many more information on medicinal plants, fruit preservation and cultural methods, soil, water and land management, animal husbandry and animal diseases etc...


• Publications and database of TOF Organic Farmer Magazine (Search by keywords or issue, audio and text versions)


• Over 3000 images allowing easy identification of majour pests, diseases and illustrations of methods promoted.

The information-platform will continue to be enhanced and the quality of the data maintained.


We're always interested in receiving comments on the information-platform and new data; please contact us here

A team from BioVision Foundation visited Kiangwachi on 5th April 2008. It is now the rainy season and the farmers were busy, but they quickly and graciously organized a meeting. The BioVision team commented that the location of Kiangwachi is good, being right on the road, with lots of farmers passing. The room chosen to house the computers had only a weak signal on the Celtel network. However, since then, Vesel project member Souleymane Camara has managed to get the Internet connection working properly. BioVision brought a new version of their database, and explained its benefits. There seems to be much demand for organic crops and methods. When they realised the quantity and quality of the information, more people began coming to the meeting. They could see a clear chain of information going from searching to printing. An older man was particularly interested in the computer, looking inside. He enthusiastically grabbed and used the laptop. He (as most people) particularly liked printouts to take away. Its database now complete, BioVision is pursuing is an awareness campaign. Radio may be useful in this regard, and in fact The Organic Farmer newsletter, which is linked to Biovision, is setting up a form of radio content delivery.

Monique Hunziker, Project Leader of infonet-Biovision with farmers at Kiangwachi

Farmers like the idea of keywords, but do not search, since they don't really understand the concept of the Internet and where information is going. They are more comfortable with SMS. In their use of the BioVision database, the farmers are guided mostly by images, and for this reason BioVision has implemented a rollover function so that information pops up when a user moves the cursor over a photo.