A senator in the United States criticised his country for spending $99,787 (Sh10.3 million) on a TV show that teaches farmers in Kenya how to use smartphones to improve their crops.
Senator Rand Paul, who represents the state of Kentucky, defined the project by the United States Agency for International Aid (USAid) as "intended to teach Kenyan farmers how to use Google and Facebook".
Mr Paul highlighted the project among others in his Waste Report this year in which he lashed at the US government for wasting a total $563.4 million (Sh58 billion).
The money spent in Kenya went to fund the production of a segment on Shamba Shape Up, a programme broadcast by Citizen TV on Saturday afternoons.
[caption caption="US Senator Rand Paul"]
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The programme features the hosts, Tonny Njuguna and Naomi Kamau, and agriculture experts advising farmers.
They guide farmers on how to improve their farms and the segment was meant to help farmers use their smartphones better.
However, according to Mr Paul’s report, the argument of the US Aid assistance on the project was that while farmers used mobile phones to improve their crops, they were not up to speed on their use and therefore needed training.
He then zeroes in on the reason he thinks this project was a waste of US taxpayers’ funds, quoting a feature story in Modern Farmer an online magazine.
The story in the magazine states that the creators of Shamba Shape Up programme were already using text messages to interact with farmers long before the USAid project.
[caption caption="The hosts of Shamba Shape Up Tonny Njuguna and Naomi Kamau"]
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He further criticised USAid for spending $72,783 (Sh7.2 million) in a study on the viability of airing a localised version of Sesame Street – a children’s show featuring muppets – in Kenya.
