Transcript Production and Market information for small holder farmers in Northern Uganda Using Mobiles and Radio to access Market prices Farmer Field school experiences.

Production and Market information for small
holder farmers in Northern Uganda
Using Mobiles and Radio to access Market prices
Farmer Field school experiences in Amuru and Nwoya districts
Presentation by J.C.
Achora – WOUGNET
“ICTs can help farmers if the focus is on the
people & their needs
And
Not on technology”
2
Why ICT applications in agriculture?
•
•
•
•
•
Market price information
Live market feeds
Product visibility
Agricultural advisory services
Linking farmers to buyers, producers & input
suppliers
• Linkages from local to global market trends
3
Mobile applications
Partnerships: FIT Uganda Ltd &
FAO
Training FFS in sms use
 SMS (Short Text Messages) to
access market information from
infotrade by sending text to 8555
or from service providers such as
MTN and WARID networks.
service cost 220 Ug shs per msg
 Web2Phone: market information
is transferred from the web to
the mobile phone
www.infotradeuganda.com
4
Blackboard at Gulu main market
Farmers use this blackboard to promote their products by posting
their commodities, the prices, quantity, their location and
Telephone numbers – content posted free of charges
Mobile applications cont
• Mobile applications are subscription based and
this poses a challenges to farmers i.e cost
effectiveness
• limited content and information. Data has to be
collected and the databases updated regularly as
commodity prices keep changing.
• Where data has successfully been used in mobile
applications eg Grameen Foundation. Content is in
English.
6
Training an integral component of
applying ICTs
7
Radio talk shows
• Radio talk shows have
proved to be an
interactive platforms
where farmers interact
with the wider
community and market
linkages formed
• Also the point where
mobile phones & radio
interact
8
Radio Cassettes
Rural women
farmers – listening
club
9
Rural information centres Apac &
Amuru
By placing RIC
in communities
Removing barriers
to information
and making it
publically
available
10
Community meetings
Target group:
Farmers in the
community
11
Websites
Online sources of information
12
Lessons Learnt
• Though a number of the farmers could
conceptualize the use of the mobile phone to
get access to markets by the end of the pilot
phase, none of them had used the phone to
get market. Asked why, they said they needed
money quickly
• Collaborations/partnerships are important
drivers for success.
Lessons
• How do farmers fare after such interventions?
will farmers use the skills gained to inform
which enterprise to engage in during the next
season and get markets?
• Perception, attitude and Change. The Rural
farmers perception to the potential of ICTs
remain a big challenge to e- Agriculture
Conclusion
• Expose small scale farmers to a wide variety of
ICT innovations and demonstrate their
potential.
• Expose farmers to ICT applications for small
holder inclusion in the agribusiness supply
chain
• Broaden small holders access to financial
services through ICTs.
15
Conclusion
• Strengthen the Farmer
Associations/Group marketing
associations with ICT skills
• Great need for Information needs
assessment of farmers – design &
delivery of products and services
References
• www.wougnet.org
• http://www.facebook.com/wougnet?sk=photos#!/m
edia/set/?set=a.482509588569.266793.1334430135
69
• http://www.wougnet.org/cms/content/view/667/1/
• http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.101501
64254898570.306176.133443013569
• http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.501369
558569.279564.133443013569
17