The case study of introducing a new ICT technology through cell phone seems to improve efficiency in agricultural marketing in Mali. In fact,first generation of market information systems did not meet the expectations of their promoters. The information produced and made available to users was not reliable enough and reduces its usefulness. It is disseminated without sufficient knowledge of the actors' request for information. The beneficiaries consider that conventional broadcast channels (radio, television, and paper) provide generic and often inadequate information. The USSD platform of the Sénèkela project tries to remedy this problem by giving access to quasi-personalized market information. At this stage, it registers between 50 and 60 000 monthly subscribers, following its launch in April 2014. However, despite pricing, which is below actual costs, the service carries a risk of excluding low-income users. This pricing principle also threatens the sustainability of the platform.
M. Djouma Sadou