Vihiga County Governor Dr. Wilber Ottichilo has urged counties to harness the geo-spatial technology services for socio-economic development.
Dr. Ottichilo, who is a Geo-spatial Information Systems (GIS) expert, says obtaining accurate data and information on various activities and projects is crucial for the execution of development plans.
The county head was the pioneer in the country to set up a GIS laboratory and over 20 counties have so far been hosted with a view of adopting the technology.
He explains that the technology uses satellite imaging to record data on the number of farmers involved in a certain enterprise, the land sizes as well as the distribution of social amenities in a geographical area for guidance in decision making.
The County Director for Geo-spatial Technologies Services (CDGTS) Washington Olando said they have collected data on the number of maize farmers and farm sizes in preparation for the distribution of the subsidized seeds and fertilizers.
Olando said in 2018 there were 64 health facilities unevenly distributed across the county but with the use of GIS data they have been able to add 10 of them ensuring that no resident covers more than three kilometres to reach the nearest health centre.
The county partnered with the US-based Esir, the France-based Airbus defence and space as well as Kenya-based locateIT to install the technology with the intention of promoting food and nutritional security for the populace.
By Sammy Mwibanda
