When considering what ICT innovations should be used with farmers, I always try to answer some key questions first.

• What types of information do they need? Our surveys throughout Africa have shown that farmers are interested in receiving information on prices, weather forecasts, information on where to find inputs, agricultural tips and best practices, disease and pest outbreaks, information on volumes of commodities in markets, and access to buyers.

• What technology do the farmers have access to? What is the infrastructural lay of the land? In most rural areas of Africa where Esoko works, the technology available to farmers is typically not the Internet or even smartphones. However, most farmers either have a mobile phone themselves or know someone who has access to a mobile phone.

• Next I ask what are the skill levels of the farmers using the technology? Are they literate? Do they know how to use SMS or only how to make voice calls?

At Esoko, we are exploring a variety of different technical options to supply farmers at all skill levels with the information they need   . . . from a more sophisticated farm leader who uses a smart phone to do business to a smallholder who owns a mobile but cannot read. Therefore, we try to ensure many different channels are available, including SMS, VoiceSMS, IVR where the farmer can call and get information from an automated system, and an agricultural helpline where a team of experts respond to farmers’ requests for advice. 

I wanted to build upon what Andy Dearden and Nigel Scott have said in their posts. I fully believe that technology design and development must be more driven by people's needs on the ground. However, one of the reasons that some ICT4D projects have failed is that NGOs, who do not possess the capacity to develop technology solutions, have tried to do so unsuccessfully. Furthermore, once the project is over, there is no further support left for users of the technology, and sustainability becomes a huge question. Working for a small African software company, I have seen the benefit of building the capacity of local developers and programmers. This growth leads to more highly skilled, dynamic individuals who in turn can continue to innovate and drive local solutions to meet the needs of people in the places where they live. However, it is typically difficult to attract the private sector to invest in such ventures in Africa because these entrepreneurs are primarily risk averse. This is where I see the public sector and NGOs playing a huge role—by fast tracking these private enterprise initiatives and partnering with local business so that the solution can be sustainable after the time period of any given project.

Hi Jorge, Thanks for your question. The posting I made under the first question during the first week of the forum will clarify more the tools that exist through our platform. We have developed our own tool which you can begin to explore at www.esoko.com. You can also learn more about support services to partner clients in different countries at www.esokonetworks.com. We seek to build healthier markets and improve the incomes of all along the value chains by improving access to information. We are currently deploying market information services via the web and mobile in ten countries, including Ghana, Mali, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Mozambique, Madagascar, Afghanistan, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. In addition, we are running our own private franchise in Ghana with enumerators collecting data on 20 commodities in about 30 markets throughout the country and a business development services team selling software licenses to small and large agric businesses and associations. Currently, our enumerators in the markets sign producers, traders and other people in the market up for SMS alerts on prices and offers to buy and sell. Associations and companies are using our SMS publish tool to send extension messages, weather, transport, etc. We have a number of other services that we are developing for release in 2009. Please feel free to contact me after the forum to continue the dialog. Laura

Frazer, Your comments are welcome to the forum at any time! Laura

Andy, As a small African business specializing in the technology, I think we have grappled with many questions along these lines - How can we effectively reach farmers in these remote areas? How can we provide continual marketing and training support to ensure that they are using it to their benefit? With that in mind, we have also found that the greatest successes have been with cooperatives and companies targeting their members or suppliers. If you would like to contact me to speak further about this, I would love to. Feel free to contact me at [email protected].

Thanks for your interest in TradeNet. We are a private company based in Ghana and have developed software accessible via the web and by mobile phones. TradeNet (soon to be rebranded Esoko) runs off a single database where information can be shared across different countries, markets, languages, and currencies. We have specifically deployed our own service in Ghana to better understand the challenges and opportunities facing this type of business. In other markets, BusyLab has established partnerships with organizations that share the vision that better information tools lead to stronger markets, and stronger markets improve livelihoods. In Ghana, we currently have enumerators collecting data on over 20 commodities in 30 markets throughout the country. Our enumerators not only collect information on market prices, but also record offers to buy and sell and profiles of key stakeholders in those markets. This data is available for any mobile phone or Internet user anywhere in the world in real-time. To access it, the users need to have someone register their mobile phones on the platform and profile what commodities and markets they would like to receive information on. Automatic SMS alerts are sent out either as they occur (offer matches) or on specific days of the week (prices). Other market feed capabilities like weather and transport are planned for 2009. Any group, business or individual can automatically build a profile on the platform that markets their goods and services to a national, regional or global audience. Enterprises and producer associations can use our mobile service to send out SMSs to their customers, suppliers and member at a fraction of the cost to call or visit them. Messages sent out could include information disseminated on weather, disease alerts, extension services, etc. With a database full of profiles, we are also marketing our services to company that can advertise to previously inaccessible groups, reaching even the most remote smallholder farmer. To answer your question about dissemination of data, there have been 1,322 offers to buy and sell posted in Ghana alone since June 2008. There are 800 people receiving SMS alerts on a weekly basis; these are all people who replied "yes" to a user poll asking if they wanted to continue to receive these alerts. I will address more about impact and how Tradenet has affected people's livelihoods under the questions posted on Wednesday and Thursday. I will happy to answer any other questions you have about the platform and how it is being used.

I wanted to address yesterday's question about impact, as well as today's question on how mobile phones have enhanced rural livelihoods economically. As Ryhan Ebad has already said in response to Wednesday's question, there is too little known about on the impact of mobile phones in agriculture. I completely agree with Helene that there is a lot of anecdotal evidence, but not enough formal evaluation studies have been conducted to demonstrate clear trends. TradeNet/Esoko recently conducted a telephone survey of 70 randomly selected people who receive SMS alerts in Ghana. The people interviewed were asked numerous questions, including "Do you use the information you receive?" and "Would you be willing to pay for the alerts to continue?" 79% of those interviewed said they would be willing to pay to have the alerts continue. We have achieved the greatest results in terms of improved economic impact with producer associations that are actively engaging their members. It appears that the greatest success comes through constant reinforcement of trainings on how to use information and continual explanation of the benefits to the farmers. With this crucial support, these farmers have capitalized on the opportunities. For example, the Social Enterprise Development Foundation of West Africa (SEND Foundation) is one of our paying group clients that has established an active program in Northern Ghana with three farming cooperatives. They are profiling their members on TradeNet/Esoko and signing up members for automatic SMS alerts on prices and offers. One of their members, Kujo Asumah, receives weekly price alerts on groundnuts from all major Ghanaian markets. He told our interviewer that during a recent encounter with a trader, he was offered GHC 320 for his crop in Tamale in Northern Ghana. However, because of the alerts, he knew he could get much more in Accra about 700 km away. Therefore, he organized transport for himself and was able to double his income to GHC 672. Another yam producer, Jonathan Abudu, was selling 1,200 yams. Local traders in Tamale were only offering him GHC 56 for 100 tubers, so he arranged to transport his products to Kumasi market where he sold them at GHC 82 per 100 tubers. He knew the price in Kumasi was higher because of alerts and the training he received from SEND. We have several similar anecdotes gathered from other associations in Ghana. These are anecdotes, but we have found that without structure or organized associations to follow up with these producers, it is difficult to obtain the information on improved livelihoods. As a technology company, we can track every single SMS that is sent out and who it is sent to, but it takes a lot of additional resources to find out if and how that information is being used. One of the results of this recent survey is that we plan to put a more structured monitoring and evaluation program in place with our paying group customers to not only capture these stories, but demonstrate clear economic improvement over years.