BY THE GUARDIAN REPORTER
21st October 2014
Creation of mobile network enabled supply chains will have significant impact on Tanzanian farmers’ livelihoods, prospects the Connected Farmer Alliance (CFA) a tripartite partnership of Vodafone Group, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the not-for-profit organisation TechnoServe.
A recently issued statement from CFA says they have teamed up with Vodacom Tanzania for the first commercial agreement to use mobile technology to increase the productivity of thousands of low-income, smallholder farmers in Tanzania.
It said some 30,000 coffee, cotton and cocoa smallholder farmers under the agribusiness Olam International stand to benefit through, among other things, farming advice via text messages, notifications on upcoming training sessions and events as well as real-time information about changes in market prices.
Other benefits will include introduction of mobile money transfers using Vodafone’s M-Pesa service in place of cash for various agricultural inputs giving farmers’ greater control over their finances and increased security.
According to the statement, TechnoServe will also provide training for Olam International staff and farmers.
It said the agreement will lead to increased productivity and revenues for smallholder farmers who supply cash crops to Olam and that the adoption of M-Pesa will help reduce risks involved in dealing with cash and improve Olam’s ability to monitor and trace transactions.
Mobile phone use will also enhance communication with farmers and cement stronger relationship and greater loyalty for all parties involved. It will likewise create greater business efficiency as digital systems replace paper-based transactions and records.
Vodafone Group Regional CEO, Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific Region Serpil Timuray said mobile communications offer major opportunities to advance human development ranging from providing access to education and health information to helping boost productivity in the agricultural sector.
“In this case, mobile services are being used to enhance farmers’ lives and transform business performance at all points of the agricultural value chain,” he noted reaffirming that Vodafone is committed to using its technology to help improve the livelihood of smallholder farmers around the world.
In his comments, Olam Environmental & Social Manager, South and East Africa, Jeremy Dufour said working with CFA, the partnership can put agricultural expertise, accurate data and payments into the hands of smallholder farmers in real time no matter how remote they maybe located.
TechnoServe’s Vice President of Global Development Simon Winter underscored the fact that 75 per cent of the world’s poor live in rural areas, with the vast majority depending on agriculture for all or part of their incomes.
“Growth in the agricultural sector, therefore, has been shown to be at least twice as effective at reducing poverty as growth in other sectors,” he said.
“Tanzania is a model example of this…but unlike in more developed countries, its farmers do not have sophisticated technology and infrastructure to rely on but this programme will help to change that,” he summed up.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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