Knowledge is power, and agriculture is no exception. Mobile phones and the Internet are strengthening the bargaining power of smallholder farmers, whose biggest headache is often how to sell their produce for a decent price. Producers working without good market intelligence are easy prey for dishonest traders; ill-informed and helpless, they are often forced into accepting the lowest offer, especially if they have travelled to take their goods to the market. Access to computers and mobile phones can help farmers' groups to launch direct marketing campaigns. E-commerce offers opportunities to advertise to a larger audience and sell direct to customers. For example: In Kenya , A farmer can subscribe to SMS alerts on daily prices of a given commodity. Even better, he can find out who is looking for products like his, and make the deal before he leaves his farm. Kenya Agricultural Commodities Exchange uses Safaricom SMS platform to link farmers to buyers, they also organ...
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