TimeTracker is a simple, picture-base smartphone app which allows respondents in household surveys to record daily activities themselves. Developed by the Institute of Agricultural Sciences in the Tropics (Hans-Ruthenberg-Institute) at the University of Hohenheim and the Stuttgart Media University. One June 4th, PARI was awarded with the landmark 2018 price of the Initiative “Germany – Land of Ideas” and the Deutsche Bank in Berlin.
The research team is using the app to study time use dynamics of mechanisation in Zambia. 60 households record their daily activities for three days at five points of the farming season. The respondents also record the food quantity and food types eaten. The team studies mechanisation as this is a labor-saving-technology which is likely to have strong influences on time use. The question is how it influences time use. How does it affect men’s workloads? What happens with potentially “freed” time? Is it spend to cultivate more land? For off-farm work or leisure? And how does it affect women’s and children’s workloads?
