Question 1 (opens 17 Sept.)

Dear Members,

I work for The Department for International Development (DFID) and I am also  a postgraduate student at Birkbeck, University of London, where I am completing a MSc. in International Business and Development. 

I am extremely interested in the near ubiquity of mobile phones, the massive growth of mobile networks in developing countries and the huge potential this has in closing information gaps between the developing world and the developed world and thus closing the agricultural productivity gap.

To this end, I am currently writing my dissertation on the socio-economic impact of mobile phones on smallholder farmers. As Agricultural, Development and ICT professionals and/ or users of mobile agricultural information services I would like to invite you to participate in a very short online survey that should take no longer than 5 minutes to complete:

All responses will remain anonymous and will be used for no other purpose than to either prove or disprove the hypothesis generated by my dissertation as arrived at by a comprehensive review of the literature on mobiles for development.

Please share with your networks,

You can also connect with me on twitter @mc37077442  or @m4dsurvey

Thank you

Kind regards

Following the introduction of a scratch and send label found on selected agro chemicals, farmers in Uganda can now verify using their mobile phones whether what they are buying is Genuine or Fake.

Unscrupulous entrepreneurs produce counterfeit pesticide packaging and fill it with inert product, sell inferior grain as quality seed and palm gravel off as fertilizer.  Neither law enforcement agencies nor Ministries of Agriculture nor the private sector have been able to make any real headway in reducing this illegal trading which, according to Felix Jumbe, Executive Director of the Seed Trade Association of Malawi, “makes the poor poorer.”

With support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), IFDC is helping eliminate counterfeit crop protection products (CPPs) which account for about 30% of the agro chemical sales in Sub-Saharan Africa. IFDC staff members have designed a simple countermeasure and, in partnership with CropLife Africa Middle East (CLAME) and CropLife Uganda, has launched a program to scientifically test the effectiveness of the methodology.

When a farmer visits an agro dealer shop, they purchase an agro chemical which is specially marked with a scratch panel.

After scratching, a 12 digit number is displayed which the buyer sends to a short code number.

The manufacturer of the product sends an instant message informing the buyer whether the product is fake or genuine.

The program is using a simple technology called Mobile Authentication Service (MAS) which can be adopted by farmers even in remote areas on any mobile phone because it is similar to loading airtime and is well-known to everybody.

The program is supported by the Uganda Ministry of Agriculture, the Uganda National Agro-Input Dealers Association (UNADA) and the Grameen Foundation.

Bruce, what recourse does the farmer have if the product is found to be fake?

If the product is found fake, the farmers rejects the product. Please note that the authentication is made at the point of sale. The message displayed with the "Fake" comes with a toll free number which farmers call to alert the Crop Protection department of the Ministry of Agriculture. This is because the department has the mandate to fight counterfeits agro chemicals in Uganda. The ministry and system managers are also notified immediately a fake alert is registered in the system. They can call the buyer to find out the location and other details.

BruceK This scratch and send label sounds fantastic and wish you all the best,  I believe that ICT has the answer to help with a lot of rural crime. There is a big problem with counterfeit meds but I never thought about agro chemicals being counterfeit.  In the UK our main problem is becoming livestock theft and ICT applications are even starting to be seen here, such as retina scanning.  This is very expensive though and a cheaper solution is needed to scanning the eye of every animal. 

Bruce

I love anything that will help to eliminate the use of fake products. But just as critical is focusing on MRLs (maximum residue levels) at least in supporting export value chains.  Yes, we want to protect commercial interests and farmer yields but farmers also need to learn how to use the right amount of approved product and avoid banned products.

But always happy to see basic sms being used effectively.

Rachel

Rachel, are there examples of ICT being used to support appropriate/sustainable use of agro-chemicals? Either through innovations in learning or application measurement and control?

Michael.. right now, we are planning a trial of KUZA Doctor a commercial value chain.  Because they already have reports of MRLs directly impacting their harvest, we have established a baseline.  Our primary goal is to report the impact of mobile training on their existing risk.  The wholesale company simply wants to find a cost effective training intervention so will reflect a holisitic commercial venture.

To Rachel --

I am glad you raised this point about MRLs, what I see as a broader point about developing and innovating different ways to use mobiles, apps, and ICT for farm management. Applications that can functions as decision tools for available fertilizers/inputs on the market, postharvest services, amount recommended for specifc acreage and particular crop, etc.

These decision tools can draw from an ecosystem of relevant information and data -- such as farm size recorded from GPS app on a mobile phone, weekly/daily and location-based input price data, and farmer profiles that can store and link this information.

We have not yet seen the 'ecosystem of content' and data evolve in the least developed countries, but it has certainly started, and what is moreso, the dire lack of existing reources an tools make these ICT solutions and tools all the more relevant and promising for improved agricultural devlopment and production.

Jill .. Feel free to email me directly if you would like a more complete profile or our training tool.  It's primary goal is to collate expert content / advice designed for smallholder farmers.  Becuase we actively train in the dirt, we are simply translating this expertise and existing content into a mobile deliery tool.   In the future, we will need support to develop better training materials, like training videos.   Working in Kenya translates into limitless resources and technical experts.