This article provides findings from a baseline study on mobile phone use by smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe. The study investigated use of mobile phones by 58 farming households in a village in Zimbabwe's Midlands Province. Via a survey questionnaire and a focus group discussion, the study found that 100% of the surveyed households identified "asymmetry of information" as a challenge they face in their agricultural activities, and 90% cited "absence of market information" as a challenge. Yet at the same time, the study found low levels of household mobile phone usage, with only 50% of households were found to be using mobile telephony in support of a farming activity. The article concludes with a recommendation for how to close this apparent gap between the smallholder farmers' felt need for increased agricultural information and, at the same time, their lack of use of mobile telephony to access such information.
Several new technologies, for example, the Internet of Things (IoTs) continue to surface in the frontage of ubiquitous and pervasive computing. Internet of things is slowly being embraced in different domains to support control and monitoring systems. The advent of microprocessors embedded with communication facilities has enabled the possibility of integrating ICTs within people and their environments. With the power utilities industry grappling with serious issues like load management which has a potential of damaging their equipment, first movers are turning to advanced technologies such as the IoTs to achieve demandside management. The purpose of this study was to conduct a theoretical and empirical review on the approaches used by Power utilities to manage load in order to determine how IoTs can be used particularly by Zimbabwe's Power utility to solve the supply-demand problem. Currently, the load management approaches used by the Power utility in Zimbabwe are load shifting and load shedding. A conceptual model was developed using C++ guided by the algorithm for load management. The model development was motivated by the research gap establish from the literature review and the problem faced by the Power utility in Zimbabwe in balancing demand and supply during peak periods. The idea is modelled around continuous monitoring of the feeder or substation, activating the automatic control and carrying out load allocation procedure based on priority settings, connection, and re-connection timings. The proposed model is also based on the dependence of demand and consumer priority perception. The model will ensure that electricity is available for basic and essential use in times of increased demand. It requires that load demand is constantly monitored to trigger automatic control and appliances should connect to the electric power grid using smart plugs.
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