Does ICT empower or marginalize women or smallholders in producer organizations? Support examples with specific reference to an organization, the technology tool(s), and content delivered.

Yes, ICT empowers women in producer organizations. An example is the 2,000 group of rural women who work with a Shea butter association in Burkina Faso who have become financially independent by learning to use ICTs, including GPS and the Internet, to reach a developed-country market for certified organic Shea butter.

Many of the women who belong to the Songtaaba Yalgré Association; a Shea butter trading group in Burkina Faso, did not attend school but confidently use ICTs and the Internet. The group has had a French-language website since 2004 and handles 90 percent of its sales through the Internet, sending Shea butter products to Europe, Canada, and the United States.

Largely through their website, the women have strengthened their position in the marketplace. Despite some literacy barriers, many of the women have learned how to use Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment to map their fields and record each tree from which they harvest Shea fruit.

From a small group that was initially taught by an expert from Europe, but they can now train other village women in GPS skills.

Mapped information is vital for certification. As an incentive to capture all relevant items each time, the women earn a small bonus if they do it without mistakes. Careful record keeping and good production techniques allow the women to sell their “bio” Shea butter at more than twice the price of uncertified Shea butter. Even the raw Shea fruit is worth more if it is certified as coming from approved fields.

Another group of women in southern Mali traditionally gather fruit from the Shea tree (Butyrospermum parkii  ) to extract the seed for processing into cooking oil and a “butter” that is an effective skin moisturizer.

In 1999, they formed a cooperative society called Coprokazan and were able to get better prices for their products.

The coop created visual training materials that gave clear information to all members, including those who could not read. Photographs showing the quality of nut suitable for processing prevented women from harvesting and transporting poor-quality produce to the collection point only to have it rejected. Filmed demonstrations of new, more efficient processing methods improved the quality as well as the quantity of Shea butter.

Computerization enabled Coprokazan to improve governance and administration. Coop office personnel began using the computers for routine administration, and member records are now kept electronically.

In the four years since ICTs were introduced, the coop’s Shea butter production and income have almost tripled. With its improved administrative capacity, the coop can now deal with more members.

http://www.ictinagriculture.org/ictinag/sourcebook/module-8-farmer-organizations-work-better-ict

http://i4d.eletsonline.com/?p=12620

http://www.cio.com/article/358716/Burkina_Faso_Shea_Butter_Producers_Go_High_Tech

http://www.iicd.org/projects/mali-shea-butter-and-ict

http://ictupdate.cta.int/Links/Projects/Karite-producer-Coprokazan-sets-example-in-Mali

http://www.iicd.org/articles/karite-producer-coprokazan-sets-example-in-mali/

The public sector is a major stakeholder in producer organizations. Apart from paying taxes, producer organizations (POs) play a major role in alleviating the plight of the rural poor and vulnerable groups like subsistence farmers.

The public sector should therefore be at the forefront in supporting the producer organizations. There are four areas that I believe stand out especially in East Africa; the issue of infrastructure, legislation, access to capital, and information.

Infrastructure: sometimes there are areas that have producer organizations that cannot use the ICT that they have like mobile phones due to lack of booster masts that can strengthen the signals. The public sector can offer subsidies to ICT providers. It is a fact that communication and good communication at that is an integral part of these organizations.

Legislation: this could mean the removal of Value Added Tax (VAT) from the purchase of equipment that’s used by these POs

Access to information: this means information from international, national and regional organizations that would greatly improve the way these POs carry out their day-to-day business

Access to capital: this would help the POs in their initial start-up capital, or where clients do not pay on delivery, which raises the problem of lack of capital which stifles these groups.

http://www.ifpri.org/publication/rural-institutions-and-producer-organizations-imperfect-mar

I believe that ICTs can also work for producers, if they are used to network with other stakeholders.

In this case, the ICTs would be a tool to help the group connect with other producing groups, those in the market, groups that use the same inputs etc. When this happens, the producers become a formidable entity that can agitate for their needs, from whoever they need them from. It would also help the groups exchange ideas, and insights in the day to day running of their organizations.

From this,  the groups can organise education especially on issues that directly affects them, connect with other groups and share and gain from their experiences.

I am thinkning in terms of especially information disemination for the rural farmers who are mostly illiterate. In other cases, it may be the issue of the language in which the information is in. When I think of Kenya, we have 42 tribes that speak their own disticnt languages, others are so far flung from the urban areas, the organization would have a better shot at diseminating this informatiuon as those in the group that understand English or Kiswahili - the national language can easily translate it for them.