AGRICULTURAL LAND LEASING WEB APPLICATION

DANIEL NJENGA
SCII/00316/2016
B . T E C H I N F O R M AT I O N T E C H N O L O G Y
 BACKGROUND STUDY
The population of the Kenya is estimated to be approximately 52 million (UNFPA, 2014) and is expected to
increase to approximately 85 Million people by 20150(Fengler, 2010).
Currently a large part of Kenyan is not fully utilized, for example Kitale with the potential to produce 8 tone of
grain per ha , is currently producing 0.3 t per ha ,and a large portion left bare(CNRM, 2011)
This means measures should be put in place to increase food production to cater for the population and
utilize these lands to the full potential.
Land leasing of agricultural land is one of the ways to improve the food production and ensure land is utilized.
This system looks to bridge the gap between individuals who own agricultural lands that they are unable to
fully utilize, but cannot sell the land for various reasons and those who have the resources to maximize on
those land.
With the system one is able to get the information about the climate and soil composition of the land under
lease before making the decision to lease, this is in order to achieve the purpose of leasing the land.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Leasing a piece of the agricultural Land currently has been a dreadful process. A process that depends on
personal relationships or referral systems .For land owners who live in the interior rural regions, locations
further from the city and without networks to people in Agricultural communities, it becomes hard to
lease the uncultivated land. Middlemen take advantage of this fact , they look for land to lease and
overcharge clients with an interest in farming.

This demoralizes them meaning few people actually go on to lease these lands. Once a person leases a
piece of lands , assuming they do not have the knowledge on how well to maximize the land, they are not
able to fully utilize the land due to inadequate information . Which again beats the whole point of leasing
the land.
PROPOSED SOLUTION
A web application bridges the gap between land owners with vast underutilized agricultural land
and individuals who have an interest, skillset and resources to do farming but do not the land to
practice.
The Application also provides information related to the areas climatic conditions , and what
crops can do well in specific areas , new improved farming technologies all centered towards fully
utilizing the land.
 OBJECTIVES
GENERAL OBJECTIVES
Develop an interactive and informative web-based application that provides a platform for leasing agricultural
land and providing valuable information about how to fully utilize the land
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
i. To design and develop a sign in module that allows a user to create an account which is authenticated by a
password
ii. To create a dashboard where Agricultural input vendors can display their products and contacts, and a
dashboard where land owners post about their land and more information
iii. To analyse data sourced and create educative information pages about crops suitable for specific locations
and modern farming technologies.
iv. To develop a chat module that supports communication among land owners and clients.
v. To develop an online payment system that allows the lessee to pay once satisfied with the land
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
In scope
i. COMMUNICATION SERVICES: lessors and lessee will be able to communicate through a chat
module.
ii. INFORMATION SERVICES: The system creates a dashboard for the land owners to provide
information about their land, including pictures, a brief description and relevant images of
documents that certain the land belongs to them.
iii. INFORMATION SERVICES : The system will provide a blog section with information about new
improved farming technologies and information on climatic conditions and soil composition of
different areas .
iv. LOCATION SERVICES: The web Application provides interactive map that provides the location of
land being leased according to the land owners location
v. PAYMENT SERVICES : Allows the lessee to make payments upon satisfaction of the system.
vi. The system operates in Kenya
Out of scope
vii. The system will not be able to allow lease agreements
 PROJECT RISKS AND
MITIGATION
RISKS
i. Outdated information – some of the information that will be displayed is likely to be outdated
ii. Unreliable Internet -: this might be a problem since network coverage in the country can be
faulty at times.
iii. The location module may fail to provide accurate location
MITIGATION
iv. I will mitigate the outdated information by weekly updating the information
v. I will mitigate the unreliable internet speeds by purchasing a reliable data plan or internet
bundles in case Wi-Fi connection goes down.
vi. I will mitigate the location by asking the lessor to provide the location of the land under lease .
EXSITING SYSTEMS
Jumia deals
This is an e-commerce site that allows lessors and sellers to post their lands for people interested .
Shortcomings
i. Provides very basic information of the land , such as the nutrients composition of the soil , the period in which the
land has been cultivated. It does nothing else than show you the farms.
ii. Does not allow online payments.
Buy rent Kenya
This is a web application that allows land owners to post up their lands available for purchase or lease and their contacts.
Shortcomings
iii. The details provided on the land is so brief for a client to make a decision on whether to make a purchase.
iv. There is minimal information about the land owner and certifications of the land, allows for fraudulent activities.
 Existing systems
JIJI
This is a websites that allow land owners to post up their lands for sale and leasing.
Shortcomings
i. It. only provides the lessee with information such as the size of land and price . The contacts
of the lessor and that is it. The information does not favor individuals who want to farm for
the first time.
ii. Only acts as an intermediary not allowing online payments.
 PROPOSED SYSTEM
The proposed system looks to fill in the gaps left by these systems and actually solve this problem in a way
that lessees actually achieve the intended purpose when they lease these lands.
What the system will include:
i. Lessors will be requested to fill in a form that ensures all the information about the land are covered ,
that includes information like ; soil composition , location , years farmed , type of fertilizer used ,
pictures of the land etc
ii. Lessors will also be requested to indicate the bacon number , a profile picture , an image of the title
deed (with sensitive areas covered) and an image of their id (covered as well)
iii. The system provides a chat platform where both parties can communicate for security reasons and
before they get comfortable enough to share their personal contact.
iv. The system provides a blog section that provides information with information about the climatic
conditions of different areas , tips on farming , government programs , modern farming technology and
products.
v. An online payment system that allows the lessee to make payment once satisfied with the land.
METHODOLOGY
The methodology that will be used to develop this system is agile development methodology.
Advantages of Agile methodology
i. Agile allows for iterations , where changes can be made to the system at any point that does
not meet the quality or is not satisfying to the clients.
ii. Agile also allows for the release of beta version for testing and improving the system while
some functionalities are still being developed
iii. Ensures quality comes first since each functionality is tested and changes made according to
feedback from users
 TOOLS TO IMPLEMENT SYSTEM
Front end
This will provide the users with an interface to access and use the system. To implement this front end, different
programming languages will be used including
i. Html and CSS
ii. Bootstraps framework.
iii. JavaScript
Back end
To implement different modules and functions I will use the following frameworks and languages;
i. PHP will be used to fetch data to and from the database to store and output data to the GUI.
ii. MySQL scripting language to connect to the database.
Application program Interface ( API )
i. Google maps API, this will be used to provide location of farms.
ii. M-PESA API for payment services.
PROJECT SCHEDULE
 PROJECT BUDGET
  Expense Cost
1 Laptop 50,000
2 Internet access for 6 months 15,000
3 IDE 0
4 XAMPP stack 0
5 Electricity 2,000
6 Miscellaneous expenses 5,000
  Total 72,000
 THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME

I WOULD NOW LIKE TO WELCOME

QUESTIONS