#

Objective To explore the impact on African farmers of delivering informaiton about crop prices, production methods, and weather via SMS messages.

Methods Randomized control trials in Ghana and Uganda involving a baseline survey, provision of SMS information service to a random sub-sample, and endline surveys..

Key results Background • A large majority of farmers own mobile phones • Mobile phone ownership by farmers is growing quickly • Farmers do not feel well-inforrmed about ag markets • Few farmers use their phones to get market information Perceptions • 60-80% of farmers found market info “very useful” • Reasons given: negotiate better prices, decide when to sell • Reasons for not liking: illiteracy and small sales • Production info and weather info also rated highly Impact of SMS services • No effect on grain or pulse prices received • Positive effect on fruit & vegetable prices in Uganda • More likely to sell from home or at local market • More likely to sell to another farmer or consumer • More likely to sell to a trader (Uganda only) • Increased share of output sold (Uganda only) • Increased number of traders spoken to (Uganda only) Willingness to pay for SMS services • Analysis on-going

Using ICT to improve market access in Africa

Nicholas Minot, Bradley Sawyer (IFPRI), Mila Sell (Luke)

End-users and impact • The high level of satisfaction with the information

services and limited evidence of impact on negotiated prices suggests that the government may wish to give or subsidize access to market information, extension messages, and/or weather alerts.

• Mobile service providers may wish to bundle these services with their wireless services to gain competitive advantage.

• The results suggest that projects and non-governmental organizations can help farmers by providing SMS-based information services, particularly for farmers growing perishable crops like fruits and vegetables.

• The farmer feedback indicates that SMS information service providers like Esoko and FIT-Uganda should address three obstacles. First, they should increase the number of markets to improve the relevance of the market information. Second, they can overcome illiteracy and language issues with call-in services. And third, they can target farmers with a minimum value of crop sales.

• Willingess-to-pay results will also help the information service providers understand farmer demand for different services.

Figure 1. Billboard in Ghana advertising Esoko agricultural market information services

Significance of the Research results This study confirms that SMS messages can be used to deliver useful information about markets, production methods, and weather to farmers. A large majority of beneficiaries open and use the information. Most find it ”very useful.” The information has significant effects on location of sale, type of buyer, and negotiated prices of fruits & vegetables (in Uganda). The benefits are greater for farmers that are literate, have significant crop sales, and sell perishable crops such as fruits and vegetables. This corraborates studies in Peru and Ghana.