Divisi
By late October, armyworm egg masses appear on the underside of maize leaves in Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland region - most farmers spot the damage a week too late. This is a common situation in busy harvest season, and it highlights a simple truth: without a record of what you planted, when, and what you observed, you’re flying blind. The first week after transplanting is when most cassava farmers in Malawi lose plants – and it’s almost never about the rain. It’s about missing early signs of disease or pest damage.
Many farmers work hard every season but still struggle to answer simple questions like: ‘Did I plant enough fertilizer?’ or ‘When should I be harvesting?’ Without proper records, farming becomes guesswork. You may be busy, but you are not fully in control. Record keeping is what separates a farmer from a farm business owner. It helps you understand your numbers, make better decisions, and grow with confidence.
It’s only with proper records that a poultry farmer can track his or her costs over the months before and after the chickens start laying. The income from the eggs come over months. Analyse the expenditure versus the costs and determine if there is business taking place, or are you just trying to crash water in a mortar with a pestle.
They are unable to detect this until they run themselves out of business. This, therefore, means that as a farmer, if you are not keeping records you may actually not be in business.
Despite the inability to assess the venture’s financial viability, non–record keeping farmers miss the instruments that can help them to institute sound management decisions. A classic example is a dairy farmer, who keeps no records of breeding and, therefore, gets semen from the same bull used to serve a progeny, thus inbreeding.
So, which are the most important records for a farm? Record-keeping can be complex and detailed, depending on the venture. Thanks to information technology, we now have systems that aid in record-keeping. Even more accessible are mobile phone applications such as Agronote and Myfarm that can be used by tech-savvy farmers with relative ease.
Whichever the case, any livestock-based venture must keep expenses and income, production, health, and breeding records. The expenses and income records should capture the daily expenses and income of the venture. It is a cut-across record that details what is bought at how much while recording any income from product sales.
Mixed Farming
The best way to keep records for a mixed farmer is to prepare a separate record for each different venture say dairy, poultry, garden farm, etc. A general farm’s expenses and income record can then be generated from time to time. This is the record that can tell you if you are making a profit or loss.
Production records are important because this is the engine of the farm. In dairy farming, the amount of milk produced by each animal must be recorded. The number of eggs collected must be recorded in the case of poultry. This allows you to monitor the performance of the animals.
Health records
It is the basis upon which culling can be done. Health records contain information on diseases on the farm. It contains recordings of events such as vaccinations. Farmers must make sure that when an animal health practitioner visits the farm, makes a diagnosis and institutes treatment, he records the disease and treatment given in the health record book.
The right to information must be enjoyed. Breeding records include such things as births, insemination dates, the bull used, etc.
Breeding records can be individualized or a single book used for the whole herd. This helps farmers to identify the difficult breeders, good mothers, and good bulls.
In a nutshell, a farmer should record any significant occurrence on the farm. How and where you record can vary and will depend on you as the farmer. Keep records for your own information. Lastly, to become a good record keeper, start simple and start now.
With Divisi's Farm Diary lets you log each observation and activity as it happens — so by next season, you have a clear record of what you planted, when, and what the results were. Divisi's 7-day hyper-local forecasts, you can check the weather for your exact farm location — not just the nearest town — and plan your planting or spraying window accordingly. Divisi’s planting calendar takes your location into account — it knows your local season, not just a national average — so you get the right planting window for your farm. The moment you spot something unusual on your crops, log it in Divisi's Farm Diary with a note and the date. Your records will show you patterns over time — and you can share what you’re seeing on the Farmer Hive to get advice from others who may have faced the same issue. Even when your data runs out, Divisi keeps working. Your crop advice, planting calendar, and farm diary are all stored on your phone — no internet needed.
Divisi's Farm Diary lets you log each observation and activity as it happens — so by next season, you have a clear record of what you planted, when, and what the results were. Divisi’s planting calendar takes your location into account — it knows your local season, not just a national average — so you get the right planting window for your farm. The moment you spot something unusual on your crops, log it in Divisi's Farm Diary with a note and the date. Your records will show you patterns over time — and you can share what you’re seeing on the Farmer Hive to get advice from others who may have faced the same issue.
On Divisi's Farmer Hive, you can ask the community and see what other farmers nearby are doing — real peer knowledge, not textbook advice.
See how many farmers in your region are planting maize at the same time as you. This is invaluable information for timing your harvest and avoiding market price drops.
With Divisi’s AI-powered crop advice, you can get hyperlocal recommendations tailored to your specific location, soil type, and climate.