Jamo Macanze, Learning from the Source

MIS for Government

A team from Mozambique’s Ministry of Science and Technology paid a visit to Ghana to learn from the source in terms of how a system based on mobile was developed and how such a system is being implemented for the benefit of the rural farmers and international traders alike. The experience, knowledge and philosophy are inputs for the conceptualization of the Mozambican system on agricultural price and market information. I was part of the team who went on this mission and I wanted to share my thoughts on the visit.

Working for a government institution I need a Market Information Systems for the same basic reason any project or business does—to collect and share information. But when you get down to the details our needs and deployment methods will be particular to us. We’ve learned that Esoko is agnostic, as any type of organization can use it.

For us, an additional advantage of Esoko is the price and market information database which is being stored and can be made available to the client any time they require and in the format that they determine. This database is a powerful source for research on market trends, forecast and policy decision-making. Doing such a project at National level would better equip research institutions and the government. For our particular deployment, I believe it will be important to have Government participating in the process as a sponsor and the owner of the data, then have that Government share data with research institutions or individuals. 

A Visit to the Field

We had an opportunity to do a site visit at a farmers' association who were using Esoko. It was visible from the stories they have shared with us their happiness in using the system. Key issues mentioned were:

• they were saving time and money as they did not require more travel in order to get access to price information;  
• currently, they were able to sell their products at the gate point, in their farms, by publishing and receiving offers or from the already built network established among farmers and traders. There was also a trust built between the farmers and traders as they have been producing based on their recommendations and from various crop certification courses attended;
• they have improved their quality of life as they were able to sell their products in a fair price and then could invest the incomes in health, education, etc.

Complexity of Deployment 

The implementation of this project is even more complex than what I had previously thought. There is need of a functional machine in the background responsible for data collection, approval and publishing of the prices, networks creation, training, etc., which are not directly related to the technology but with the institutional organization.

I would point to a few main challenges, not in any particular order, to the use of the Esoko or any MIS system:

   Finance. The implementation costs may be too high for ordinary farmers or farmers associations to cover the deployment costs. The approach of working with existing NGOs who are supporting the farmers is a strategy to get sponsors to cover the initial costs until farmers gain the confidence in using the system and understand the value of it. 

     Brokers that add value. Existing traders that are close to the farmers can build value in the commercialization value chain. Traders need to play a role of educating the farmers on production standards and quantities for each season. They better the market and they can be the exporting bridge for the farmers. For example, one trader informed us that they sometimes advance their money to the farmers to be able to farm certain crops with the required standards and quantity. These activities can strengthen the market. 

    Technology literacy and availability. Most of the rural farmers have low literacy when it comes to technology use as well as reading and writing. Also farmers are using different mobile handsets brands so each has its own particularity which requires training and monitoring.

    Institutional organization. The implementation of Esoko requires a well-structured backup organization; people who will do the back office work and make the system available to organizations. This a project that requires partnership building so it must be a well known and reputed institution leading the process to be able to attract partners and mobilize resources. Also, the beginning stage requires some investment and it important that it be an institution who can have such funds available.

   Problem identification and description. Each country and organization has its own particularities so the concept of the agricultural market information system will differ. It is important to define your problems and needs well so that you know where are going to put your efforts and what concept you will develop. The identification of these problems can actually be done through a deep study of the existing Esoko system to see how the platform is fit to address problems in agriculture. It is important to remember that the technology is the minor component here, and that the real challenge is the organization you will be putting in place to implement and manage the system.

I would like to use this opportunity to thank all the team for their hospitality and willingness to support and share with us their experience, knowledge and philosophy behind the mobile-based agricultural price and market information system.

Jamo Macanze

Maputo, Mozambique

Kwesi Acquah, Building Technology in Ghana

Esoko,  2011,  Accra, Ghana 

The mere mention of technology brings to mind names like Berlin, Singapore, Basel, Bangalore and the famous Silicon Valley, to name but a few. Most of the world’s best technologies were conceived and brought forth in one of these hubs, and quite obviously the consumption of these technologies has also not been limited to only these areas or the countries in which they were developed.

Developing countries like Ghana have benefited immensely from technology transfer from these tech hubs. We use technology to help organize our lives, have fun, be inspired, communicate, and it has become a definitive part of life in our cities.  In rural communities, mobile rates are rising so quickly that no one can keep track. Without even needing statistics, the fact that most of our grandmothers have called us on a mobile phone tells the story of change.

But there is nothing better than identifying local problems, using modern means to carve out a solution and using local resources to develop technologies to solve that problem. To me that is just the story of Esoko, and we’re living it every day.

Esoko identified the needs in the agricultural industry in Ghana and is growing based on those observations and feedback from the market. What we’re finding is that projects and businesses all over Africa - and even beyond Africa in Asia and South America - need the same tools we’re building here.  If our team of 65 can outsource Ghanaian technology around the globe, we’ll know we’ve made it.

Like other technology based companies in Ghana and Africa, Esoko vividly demonstrates what the new generation in Africa is capable of – a great resource pool that can pull off anything.  We’re very proud to be at the center of it all.

I asked a few colleagues what the one word they think of is when they think about what we’re doing at Esoko. Here’s what they came up with:

Transformation. Helping. Creation. Disrupt. Diversify. Proving. Leading. Exciting. Innovation. Solving. Ingenius. Information. Ideas. Experience. Challenging. Fun. Dynamism.

Nicole Hildebrandt, Teach a Man to Text

Nicole Hildebrandt is a New York University/Center for Technology and Economic Development doctoral student working on a randomized control trial (RCT) on Esoko in Ghana. These are notes after her recent experience training farmers with the Esoko team. Thanks to CTED for the repost. 

Nicole observing farmers write a text message

As a (late) twenty-something from the US, I’ve basically grown up using a mobile phone, so it’s hard for me to understand how people can not know how to send a text message (come on, mom, it’s not that hard!).  I think most people in my age cohort – and certainly all those high school and college kids out there who seem to be able to text without even looking at the screen – feel the same way.  Which was why I got some funny looks a few weeks back when I told friends that I was going to Ghana to help teach the farmers in our Esoko RCT how to send and receive a text message.

 “You really have to teach a class on that?”

It turns out that, yes, the rural farmers in our study did indeed need a class on texting. Although cell phones are pervasive in Ghana, and have been for quite some time, it seems that many rural farmers have an extremely limited understanding about the functionality of their mobile phones.  Some statistics to give you a sense of the problem: of the 40 farmers that attended our final training session in Krachi West, 100 percent used their phones to make voice calls.  But less than one-quarter had ever written a text message, and less than one-third knew how to open and read a message sent to them by someone else.

This is real challenge for anyone who wants to try to introduce a mobile phone-based innovation in the developing world.  In addition to tackling illiteracy and the multiplicity of local languages, one needs to make sure there is sufficient “tech literacy” so that the intended user base can actually utilize the product.  This isn’t a groundbreaking realization, but it’s something that I don’t hear enough about in the tech-for-development sphere.  Sure, there is lots of talk about the importance of simplicity in application development, but even that presumes a very basic knowledge of mobile phones (like, knowing what an Inbox is) that may not exist in many populations.

Miranda Pabby from Esoko showing how to navigate the phone menu

It’s a challenge without any “easy” solutions.  I saw this first-hand at the Esoko training sessions I observed last month.  In the four-hour training sessions for the treatment group, the first three hours were devoted to Cell Phones 101 (how to navigate the menu, add a contact, check in Inbox, draft a message, and finally press “Send”).  Only the last hour was spent discussing the actual content of the Esoko messages, and how to use the information to obtain higher prices…and that was by far the portion of the training that was easiest for people to absorb.

Of course, a three-hour lesson isn’t enough to ensure that all of the farmers in our study will have the knowledge base to take advantage of the Esoko service.  Thankfully, Esoko has developed a phone-in help line available free to users, and they have a wide network of market enumerators that are available to farmers for additional help if needed.  All of this support increases the chances that farmers will be able to access and use the Esoko price information to make better-informed marketing decisions.  I wonder whether (and certainly hope that) other mobile-phone based applications in the developing world have similar supports in place to help address “tech illiteracy” among their user base.

Farmers from Nkwanta South at the training

Click here to read more on the research NYU is doing on Esoko in Ghana. 

Kwesi Asiamah Acquah, The Real ICT4D

Fresh back from an Esoko farmer training session, Kwesi Asiamah Acquah shares his experience... 


We've trained a lot of farmers in Ghana now, and each place brings with it new discoveries and new stories. It’s now the turn of the Dangbe East and Akuapem South District farmers to start creating theirs. The program is being made possible through an Esoko-MTN partnership, dubbed “Farmer First”, which will see the Ghanaian and African communications giant sponsoring hundreds of rural farmers to receive price alerts on their mobile phones. Proposed benefits? Empower the farmers with information to bargain better for their produce and enable them to find other markets where they can sell for higher returns. Those changes should increase farmer revenue and improve livelihoods. 


But there is a lot of work that must be done to make this happen, and along the way, all I could think in my mind is "this is the real ICT4D". Though we make amazing technology at Esoko, it takes profiling, training, an understanding of market dynamics and a great deal of time to make sure the benefits of that technology are discovered. These trainings are where the real action is. 

Information

To determine their information needs and better tailor the alerts, Esoko profiled a section of pineapple farmers in those districts. In Fotobi and Oboadaka, both communities in the Akuapim South District, farmers sang the same information deficit song which others were singing prior to receiving Esoko alerts. All the farmers indicated a general lack of information concerning their agricultural practice.  While they indicated that they get information from their association and from the Ministry of Agriculture, they also expressed how the information is of little importance especially as far as the marketing of the produce is concerned. All of the farmers in the community do not know the prices of pineapples in the bigger markets like Techiman, Kumasi and Takoradi where most of their traders come from. They are rewarded with GHS .30 (20 US cents) per pineapple by these traders and processors who come to buy their produce.

The frustration of these farmers can be summed up in the statement of Moses Gatogo, a pineapple farmer in the Oboadaka community: “We sit here and they come and tell us how much they want to give to us, and we can’t say anything because we don’t know. And if we don’t sell too, our pineapples will go bad”.

Mobile phone use

All these famers have mobile phones, and have been using them for more than three years. However, the primary use for the device is as a means communication but not as a source of information. Some of these farmers have never sent an SMS before. This is where the Esoko training is very crucial. Esoko trains farmers on sending, checking and interpreting the messages they will receive, and this takes patience. There is no 'quick fix' or magic bullet in ICT4D. 

My experience

I had read of stories of traders paying low prices for farmers’ produce, but had never had first hand information from a farmer. The mention of GHS .30 for one pineapple sent mixed feelings within me. On one hand, I was thinking I could make some good money if I started trading in pineapples. And then I started thinking of whether the toil of the farmer for over one year is worth GHS .30. It felt disheartening when I recollected that the lady close to our office in Accra sells one of the medium sized pineapples for GHS 2.00 (1.30 USD)!  These farmers are really working for close to nothing, and I believe the intervention will make them see farming as more of a business than a lifestyle.

Gathering further information from these farmers, we realised the most expensive household asset most of them had was either a bicycle or a motorcycle.  I asked one farmer: “So you mean apart from the spraying machine for your farm you don’t have any household asset?” He answered, “Oh, I have a radio”.  “Just that?” was the only thing that could come out of my mouth. While there are other stories explaining this phenomenon, it makes basic sense that given more income farmers can purchase more items that can make their lives more lively. As in many other villages in Ghana, most of the houses are constructed with mud.

For some farmers, this is going to be the first time a text message is going to mean something to them and I am seriously looking forward to this myself. Indeed this is going to be challenging for those who can neither read nor write. But it was exciting to hear from these farmers that they have relatives who can read and explain messages to them. For those who can read and write but have never sent an SMS, I gather that this will not just be a training on reading and interpreting Esoko price alerts, but also an education on a technology that can be used to source for information and exchange ideas in a community where the internet and television are futuristic channels. This is a slow but hopeful step on the road to real development.