Chamba, Northern Region, GhanaKujo Azumah grew up farming and has never really considered exploring any other profession. As the oldest son in the family, he holds most of the responsibility on the farm, and takes that responsibility very seriously. He says what sets him apart from his parents is the fact that his generation is a lot more comfortable with technology than theirs--especially with mobile phones. That's why when he learned about Esoko's SMS price alerts through the SEND Foundation's project in Northern Ghana he was one of the first to sign up and start using the information in hopes of increasing his family's revenue in a community that has historically received low buying offers from outside traders simply due to their lack of relevant market information. When he got an SMS alert for groundnuts a few months ago, he was able to convert the kilos into local measures (bags in this case) and realized that the prices in the center of the country, and in Accra, where drastically higher than what the Northern traders where offering him in his small community of Chamba. He could have sold to the traders that visited his farm for 320 GHC (1 GHC is roughly equivalent to 1 USD), or he could ship the very same groundnuts to Accra, with the inexpensive transport cost of 4 GHC, and sell them for 672 GHC. Trusting the information he received on the alert, he shipped them down to Makola market in Accra, making an extra 348 GHC. Kujo is so proud to not only continue his family's work, but to put a new spin on it--he is now slowly taking power away from the Northern traders who have, for all of his life, taken advantage of his community.
