Esoko

Esoko's 4th Annual Partner Conference

noreply@blogger.com (Kwesi Asiamah Acquah) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:47:00 +0000

Esoko being deployed in multiple countries across Africa presents unique and interesting challenges - all specific to each country's agricultural, cultural, mobile and economic environments. In light of this, Esoko hosts as annual conference that brings together international partners to share ideas and learn from each other in person.

This year's conference - the 4th of its kind - was held from April 23rd to 25th and included partners from Mozambique, Cote D'Ivoire, Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, and Ghana.

Day 1 Highlight: Emerging themes in MIS
Esoko CEO Mark Davies reminded partners of the need to keep up to speed with current trends to improve the market information system/service industry. From Esoko's point of view, there are three main themes springing up to drive the industry - global agriculture, mobile agriculture and market information. Under these, they key issues raised included:

Global agriculture: food security, insurance products, contract farming, climate adaptation, women & youth, and private public partnerships (PPPs)
Mobile agriculture: call centers and e-extension
Market information: value chain management and profiling & field force

"The MIS landscape is still in its early days", Davies said. "There are diverse models and technologies and this presents a massive opportunity for all of us."

Stories from the field
Esoko partners shared interesting stories on how Esoko is helping them transform their business, and link farmers to markets. The Market Oriented Agricultural Program (MOAP), who has used Esoko to supply market prices to citrus farmers in the Central region of Ghana, indicated that knowledge in market prices led to better bargaining power resulting in higher revenues.

NOVUS (Uganda/Kenya) representative, Mr Bayella Thiam, said their objective for using Esoko is to keep customers engaged and build a trust relationship with price and technical advice. "We use Esoko as a cost effective way of reaching farmers and other actors in the livestock value chain".

Day 2 Highlight: Product and Tech Showcase
The 'Orange Day' of the conference brought over 30 software developers donning the bright orange Esoko T-shirt to spice up their presentations to the partners. To help partners understand and give feedback on the applications they use, Esoko decided to let the developers themselves interact with the partners who took them through the structure and the entire software development process. Some new applications were demonstrated to the the partners in small groups.

But the technical team didn't do all the talking....partners were grouped together and asked to lead the design process for some applications. It was an interesting experiment in appreciating what goes into the development process, as well as a new way to get partner input and feedback.

Day 3 Highlight: Strategy discussions
How best do you deploy Esoko solutions in your environment? How do you finance, monetise and sustain your project? These are just few of the strategic questions that partners were seeking answers to. The day saw discussions on four key areas - execution, financing, revenues and positioning with partners - one key question was how to get farmers, who have been receiving subventions all these years, to now pay for services. It was interesting to find new partners asking deployment questions and having their fellow partners, who have been on the ground longer, provide valuable insights.

CEO Mark Davies chipped in with a presentation on the actual strategy of the company, where it is headed and what our immediate objectives are.

He recounted how unsustainable and cost-ineffective it is for individual projects to develop and maintain their own systems, hence Esoko's belief in integrating these smaller bits of MIS and data services to create greater value for partners, while enabling these partners to concentrate on their core operations. He added that the company's goal is to change the way markets work, especially for the poor.

Hands-on-workshops
To provide partners with some more specific operational challenges, hands-on-workshops were organised across the three days. Dealing with mobile networks operators, project planning, M&E, field training, enumeration and marketing were some of the key areas addressed.

Esoko is thankful to all its partners and attendees who made it, and we hope that it has been as insightful for them as it was for us. We hope to see everyone again next year, and to welcome some new faces too.

Reaching the rural farmer with modern technology

noreply@blogger.com (Kwesi Asiamah Acquah) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 09:45:00 +0000

Over the years innovation has driven the development of new tools and services to tackle different areas of the agricultural value chain…now including, of course, exciting new technologies using mobile phones. All of these innovations aim to improve food production and security, the livelihoods of individual farmers, and the business of farming in general.

But the majority of food production remains in the hands of rural farmers who have little or no access to these quickly moving we-can’t-wait-for-anyone technologies. So one big question remains unanswered: Why are the best technologies not reaching smallholder farmers? And how do we ensure that the technologies are relevant to the farming community and actually improving the livelihoods of farmers? Isaac Boateng (IB) and Philip Asihene (PA) of the Esoko monitoring and evaluation team share some insights.

Esoko: What are some of the challenges you face out there in the field?

Philip interacting with some farmers

PA: Lack of education and high rates of illiteracy are major problems. Though almost all farmers Esoko has dealt with have mobile phones and have access to phones, only a few know how to use the phones apart from making and receiving calls. Many cannot read and write and so understanding the messages we send them is difficult - some have to rely on the educated friends, children or others to interpret for them.

Esoko: Do you face any challenges from the mobile network operators?

PA: I think our major problem is the fact that some of the farming areas are still out the coverage areas of these networks, and some areas just have poor network coverage. Sometimes we see farmers standing at specific points in their community to get connected. Imagine the sight of about 20 people stationed at a point and making calls, checking or sending messages. This limits the effectiveness of any technology solution deployed on the mobile phone.

Esoko: Isaac, do farmers have any concerns about the technology solutions themselves?

IB: Oh yeah, we have one big challenge with standardization. Most new technologies adopt current world standards of measurement. But the farmers in the rural areas are still using local standards - what we call “local measures”. We started delivering information in the standard measure of kilos years back, and we've have learned the hard way that a current technology may be irrelevant if what it delivers does not conform to local standards. We now deliver information based on bags, tins, etc. – not kilos.

Esoko: But can’t the technology providers be the game changers?

IB: We cannot do this alone. This must start at the policy level. Government policies also affect how technology benefits smallholder farmers. What is the government’s policy on marketing of local agricultural produce? If it has been done for fish and meat, why can’t measurements also be standardized for agricultural crop produce? Right technologies must go with right policies. Even infrastructure affects effectiveness of any technology. Some of our farmers say they now know of better buying prices in other markets, but they cannot transport their farm produce to such markets because the roads are not usable during certain seasons. However, the technology world cannot wait for government and so solution providers like us have to find alternative means of ensuring farmers reap the maximum benefits from their solutions.

Esoko: Do you think current solutions are necessarily complex?

Isaac explaining things to a farmer

IB: You see, a typical farmer would not read tutorials before using a phone. So when you are thinking of any technology for the farmer, it must be as simple and basic as possible; it should attract less effort to understand and use. If you develop a complex solution on a simple mobile phone, it will still be irrelevant to the farmer. For example, Esoko’s price alerts are simple and straight-forward messages that just tell the farmer the wholesale or retail price of a commodity in a particular market. Any ambiguity in the message is likely to confuse the farmer and render the service meaningless.

Esoko: So Philip, how can we address the issue of technological illiteracy?

PA: First of all I think there must be extensive training and education on the tools used to deliver the product or service. We train farmers on how to open their inbox, send SMSs as well as how to delete them when their inboxes are full. We always have to deal with the challenge of mobile navigation first, even before training on the service itself, otherwise the service is of no use. Farmers need training on their own devices through which mobile solutions are delivered. Sometimes the provider needs to go beyond their solution and train or inform the farmer on the other issues. A good example of this is when farmers lose their SIM cards, purchase a new phone number,and expect to receive SMS alerts from Esoko once they put the new number in the old phones.We have to tell them to go for the same number or inform us of their new numbers, because of course we identify them by the number, not the phone itself.

Esoko: And after training how do you ensure the information delivered is helpful?

PA: For us timeliness is key as far as any solution is concerned. Farmers require services that are time sensitive, so we do our best to ensure that the most recent market information is delivered to users right when they need it.

The role of technology should be to transform business and improve farmer livelihoods. With agriculture in Africa projected to remain smallholder for some time, it is imperative that the new tools provide farmers with timely, relevant and local knowledge.

Jamo Macanze, Learning from the Source

noreply@blogger.com (thebelgian) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:54:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (thebelgian) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 15:14:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (thebelgian) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:21:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (thebelgian) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:11:00 +0000

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.

Mark Davies, Part III: The MIS Industry

noreply@blogger.com (thebelgian) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 15:15:00 +0000

This is Part Three of a series brought to us by Mark Davies - market information obsessed anthropologist & technologist (and incidentally the founder/CEO of Esoko)

Aside from the conversation about what MIS can do and about where content comes (or doesn't come) from, there are actually a lot of interesting new technologies emerging and being used in Africa. It's fascinating to see considering how void the space was just one decade ago.

These technologies have the capability to transform how agriculture is managed. And in the end it will be a win-win for everyone involved since agriculture is so stupendously expensive and inefficient. Africa is importing billions of dollars of food every year. Few grades and standards, lack of inputs, and little visibility and information flow across the supply chain come together to create the situation as we know it. And because of it companies are scared to invest; they're even scared to source locally. New technologies can make agricultural smarter, leaner, and more efficient. They can also empower everyone to act more like a decision-maker based on choice and options than a passive producer in the field.

Again, I would argue that most of the current confusion about if Market Information Systems can 'work' arise because we’re in a transitional phase. Just as commercial space travel is now possible due to smarter and cheaper technologies, so too is market information now accessible and manageable through a new set of tools. This is not only the mobile phone, but also a growing and maturing penetration of networked people and places throughout rural communities--cybercafés, GPRS phones, and radio all have a key role in reducing the cost of disseminating this type of information. It's also the emergence of a new class of technologists across Africa, either local or imported, that bridge more developed software communities with the emerging ones and are able to launch increasingly relevant, usable and appropriate solutions. M-Farm, Muddy Boots, FrontlineSMS, Ushahidi, SourceTrace, txteagle, CKW, Logistimo, EpiCollect, Helveta, Indaba, e-Choupal, RapidSMS, and Dimagi to name a few. It’s an impressive list and is beginning to look like an industry of market discovery serving all types of customers across the sector. And it's just that...the beginning.

Mark Davies, Part II: Content is King

noreply@blogger.com (thebelgian) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 17:12:00 +0000

This is Part Two of series brought to us by Mark Davies - market information obsessed anthropologist & technologist (and incidentally the founder/CEO of Esoko)

New initiatives have emerged focussed on the tools, but lack the content...

The lack of very local digital content is acute in Africa and is one reason even Google’s strategy is challenged here. Google Trader (among others) have offered cool new technologies, but without any real content they're just not being used. So new technology makers are reluctantly but inevitably drawn into collecting content. It's difficult to not assume the two must go hand in hand.

As these new projects emerge, pushed into building both the tools and the content, they are seen as ‘private’ Market Information Systems – and it's assumed that they're only driven by profits. But it’s critical here to understand that most of these innovations are actually focussed on the technology, and can realistically accommodate any kind of content – private or public. A small business or a government, a multi-national or an NGO project. In short, we need a more rigorous distinction between tool providers and content providers.

And we should also recognize that content can come from a multiple number of sources. Isn’t that the lesson we’ve learned over the last ten years? That content provided by your neighbour may be equally or even more relevant than that provided by your government, or by CNN. Twitter and Facebook have given us, our friends and our peers, a voice. Technology in this sense is content. And it’s only the way we filter it that becomes relevant. Can't we create or define or change our 'filter bubbles' to serve our needs, and allow us to choose which source, which flavour, which relevance we have?

The MIS world hasn’t yet moved where we’ve all moved to...that we all have a voice, and the tools allow us to 'slide the volume control' on one or the other dialog, hopefully creating interesting feedback to the content that the market really wants. Voting with your fingers as it were. If the MIS community could recognize that they need each other, and separate functions clearly, we may have a more coherent approach and understanding.

Click here to continue to Part III...

Mark Davies, Part I: History & Technology

noreply@blogger.com (thebelgian) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 10:02:00 +0000

This is Part One of series brought to us by Mark Davies - market information obsessed anthropologist & technologist (and incidentally the founder/CEO of Esoko)

Recently at a UNECA workshop in Addis I was challenged by Vincent Fautrel of CTA (the Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU) about Esoko's strategy. I had been talking about the new products and services that we were planning to introduce to serve businesses and organizations, and Vincent wondered whether or not Esoko would continue to serve the needs of smallholder farmers. It’s a valid question. The reason I think it’s worth writing about here is because I think buried within that question are key issues about market demand, product vision and the evolution of MIS, so I wanted to pull out a few threads and pick them up here.

Vincent was also surprised to hear me talk about this as an ‘industry’, and questioned the validity of that term. But I’m convinced more than ever that there is an industry of information products serving agricultural communities expanding quickly in Africa. It’s exciting, confusing and we’ve got very few points of reference to guide us as we navigate through this period of innovation and disruption.

So why does the community still remain so poorly documented, and so clearly misunderstood? Even by those of us practicing within it? I would suggest there are two areas that are confusing us and we need to think big about both: history and technology.

The history of MIS to most practitioners has been one of governments sending out enumerators to collect prices. This has mostly been done on paper, by fax and over the phone. The data is not particularly time sensitive, and can take weeks to get into a ‘central repository’. The latter may be an excel sheet or filing cabinet in the ministry. The customer here is really government, seeking production and price statistics for planning, policy and food security. A price that is a week old is almost non-commercial by definition. So MIS to date have mostly been run (in Africa) by public organizations with little focus or accountability to the market itself. The content itself is rarely seen or used by farmers or traders, and if it is, then mostly through radio or newspapers, where there is little opportunity to interact or respond to the content itself – key elements that go to ensure both the accuracy of the data and the excitement and motivation of those collecting it.

The argument goes that only the public sector can be trusted to collect prices and disseminate this fairly and justly to the populace and that no private company can be trusted… both in terms of motivation and in terms of accuracy. I think they are fair questions, but in my five years now of talking to traders, the very last people that they trust for commercial information is government. So there’s a disconnect. There’s a structural problem of relevance and accountability that’s just not built in. And the conceit of the governing mostly keeps them from asking the tough questions. Notable exceptions exist. Some include Rwanda, Sudan and Kenya who are beginning to show real commitment. But most public MIS systems are in decline or have vanished across the continent as budgets, votes, excitement, and impact seem not to materialize. It’s this history that we’ve inherited, and the community across Africa has a healthy dose of scepticism and cynicism in pushing more money into old models when the track record in African agric seems so poor. Prices haven’t really seemed to help farmers. Of course not! They were wrong and inaccessible! We’re seeing something very different in Ghana and are launching key studies this year with NYU and IFPRI and Cirad to prove it. We shouldn’t be defined by our history.

The second key point, and where both opportunity and more confusion arises, is the advent of promising and disruptive technologies. A number of individuals, organizations, projects and commercial businesses have recognized (for some years now) that placing a terminal into a large number of pockets that can accept low cost, easily customizable, storable and transferable data messages can disrupt the existing status quo. So for a few years we’ve seen initiatives emerge amongst technology enthusiasts to try and improve the way information is delivered. Notably Shaun Ferris’ work with Foodnet in Uganda and Daniel Anerose with Manobi in Senegal were some of the first innovations in mobile-based delivery of content. That opportunity is now clearly understood by most of us, but we’re still in a phase of working out who is the best to develop those technologies. They’re not as fast, cheap and easy as we all tend to think when we start, so projects, NGOs, and businesses all attempt to build their own software. This was the same with word processing in the 70s. But technologists emerge who understand the industry and realize there’s a win-win for all in building tools that everyone can use, and are happy with 80% of the features they thought they needed. And that's exactly where we are now.

Click here to continue to Part II...

Chinedu Okonkwo, Software Development in Africa

noreply@blogger.com (thebelgian) — Wed, 25 May 2011 13:56:00 +0000

A fast paced question and answer session with Chinedu Okonkwo, software engineer:

What do you work on at Esoko?

I work on the API (Application Programing Interface) of Esoko. The back end of the application. I mostly code in PHP & PL/SQL.

What led you to software development?

First and foremost, I've always had an interest in creating things--programming and computing let you make things happen in real time and you can see them happen right in front of you. I can bring things to life this way. It also feeds a hero's complex....I'm hoping that what I make can solve some of the problems I see around me.

Does it matter if software is made in Africa or in the West? What's the difference?

I believe that there are cultural dynamics between Africa and the West that are largely different. One example of this is that African culture is more passive, so your software has to assume that and be the active part for it to be effective. Esoko fits into this with with price alerts and bulk SMS - 'push' elements are super important. Reaching out to a user instead of a user reaching into the system.

We as Africans tend to go our of our ways sometimes to just copy the West, and it's much more interesting to use the same coding languages as the West but built things here, according to local needs.

What's the biggest misconception about African software development?

That Africa doesn't have the capacity to build it's own software. But that's crap.

A lot of software developers in Ghana are freelance. What are the benefits of working at a big company?

Working at a big company puts me in the position to prove the above misconception wrong. It takes a team to build world class software to solve a worldwide problems--I can't do it alone.

It also gets you out of the regular domain of IT, which is mostly corporate software & IT support, and gets you into web and public based platforms that have a much bigger reach.

You took a recent trip to Kumasi (in the center of Ghana) and talked to some Esoko users. What were the best and worst things about that trip?

The most shocking was definitely that a lot of businesses have no idea about information technology. It's a slow process. But the cool part is that we have a platform to solve a lot of their problems.

Connect, argue or commiserate with Chinedu on Twitter @codmajik

Cosmas Kombat, Why Traders are not Evil

noreply@blogger.com (thebelgian) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 16:37:00 +0000

My name is Cosmas Kombat, and over the past 3 months I have been researching Market Information Systems (MIS), this particular one funded by GiZ/Market Oriented Agricultural Programme (MOAP) in partnership with Esoko to support maize traders in the Techiman market in Ghana. I wanted to share my new-found perspective on the relationship between traders and farmers.

Market Information Systems, over the past years, have been very useful in supporting businesses and value chains. But when we talk about MIS helping individuals, it is always targeted to small scale farmers. This of course makes sense, considering the information asymmetry that we always talk about--traders have more information than farmers, and they take advantage of that fact. But are we missing something? When I started the feasibility study on Techiman Maize Traders Cooperative Society, even I was a bit reluctant and not sure how traders could be supported with price and market information—especially to the detriment of farmers who are already disadvantaged.

During the study, it became clear that these maize traders were not the stereotype of the harm doing characters we always think of. The Maize traders in Techiman, who have been in the maize business for many years, have long standing contacts with maize farmers from around the villages in the middle belt of Ghana and even with some farmers in the north. These traders provide embedded services to the farmers and support their farming and business activities; these services include credit for inputs, advance payments, social support, extension services and marketing of the maize. Traders and farmers in this setting have a trust relationship and traders feel responsible to support farmers since most of their produce is bought from farm gates directly from these farmers.

Based on the relationship and long trust between the maize traders and the farmers in Techiman, we concluded that the right market information would do a lot of good to traders and farmers since there would be trickle down effect of benefits derived by traders to farmers and vice-versa. And I learned that we must be aware of the myriad of relationships that exist in the market; to keep our minds open about reaching out to traders and understanding their relationships with farmers a bit better.

Isaac Boateng; The Long Road to Reaching Farmers

noreply@blogger.com (thebelgian) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:49:00 +0000

Hi I'm Isaac; that's me on the left in the Esoko orange. The really great thing about being part of Esoko’s Monitoring and Evaluation team is that I get to go to the field and interact with farmers. I feel this is unique about Esoko, because we don’t just sell services to customers but also regularly follow up to access the impact of those services. One recent trip was the post-training monitoring in the Market Oriented Agricultural Program (MOAP) in the central region of Ghana. In this program, Esoko is collaborating with the German International Development Cooperation (GIZ) to provide 200 farmers, mostly in the citrus and pineapple value chains, access to Esoko price information on their mobiles. Our visit was to measure the level of knowledge retention by farmers as well as the level of impact of Esoko market information on farmers businesses. Two things were clear:

1) Bringing farmers onto the Esoko service is not simple to achieve. That does not mean it's impossible, but we are realizing and learning all the time. Are training of trainers really successful (how much knowledge is really transferred)? How much prior mobile usage is necessary for farmers before using Esoko? How much training is necessary on not just how to access the market prices and understand them, but also to know how to act on that information? Do we have prices from the right markets? There is so much to learn and improve on to get this right, and we have to continue asking questions, being curious, and evolving as we go.

2) Though we face challenges and should continue to learn how to do better, we are actually beginning to see impacts. This trip revealed that knowledge in using SMS functions (sending and reading) had improved, and that Esoko helped to improve their agricultural businesses through enhancing negotiating power. Stories were recorded from farmers who, as a result of Esoko service, increased their sales revenue between 40–100%. One story was from Mustapha Korantsir (left), a pineapple farmer who was offered 25p (.16 cents) for each of his 2000 pineapples, but based on the price information on his phone saying that pineapples were selling for an average of 1.20 GHC (80 cents), he negotiated with the traders and got a price of 40 p (.27 cents). That's an increase of 60%. And as a result of these successes, the majority of the farmers interviewed affirmed their willingness to pay and continue with the service after the current GIZ intervention.

So our work in trying to reach smallholder farmers is far from over and far from easy, but we are inspired and excited by the possibilities. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

Isaac Boateng, March 2011

Bernard Otabil, Commodity Index Specialist

noreply@blogger.com (thebelgian) — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 12:24:00 +0000

Hi, my name is Bernard Otabil, and I led the launch of the first ever agricultural commodity index in Ghana. It’s known as the Esoko Ghana Commodity Index (EGCI), and it’s a market price index composed of data on physical commodities. The index tracks prices at two levels: the Esoko Ghana Commodity Index-Retail (EGCI-R) and the Esoko Ghana Commodity Index-Wholesale (EGCI-W). I wanted to share a bit about how to create a commodity index that informs the general public, as well as policy makers, about market trends in your country.

1) First, determine which markets and commodities should be used in the construction of the index. Consider the geographic importance of the markets, the size and the commodities traded in them. Also consider the importance of the commodities to be used, bearing in mind that staple foods or commodities that form a large component of the country’s consumer price index are the most interesting.

2) So now, you need market prices--how are you going to gather prices from these markets? Setup an enumeration process and procedures that ensure price collection on a regular basis, and on time. At Esoko we have trained enumerators who cover 34 markets in the country, collecting prices regularly and feeding them on to our platform using their mobile phones. You may setup a private system like ours, or you may leverage other networks that already collect data. Just make sure it is good, and consistent.

3) Before moving on, you have to determine what weights and measures you’re going to use for the commodities covered, remembering that you cannot just compare apples and grapes. As you would expect, there should be some level of standardization. We use standard measures of kilos and liters for most of the commodities we cover.

4) But what is the story behind these figures? Go beyond just collecting the prices and data to actually understand the market dynamics (what is accounting for the price movements?) Look at not only exceptions, but also normalities. In effect--editorialize it. Give the numbers a story.

5) Now you have to distribute the index. The first step is to make sure you get buy-in into the concept. No editor would except data from an organization that they cannot trust. So ensure that the index is launched as a media event, inviting media houses, getting the support of industry participants and practitioners, and making sure that you have the background information prepared about the construction of the index and what informs the details. Once that is done, you've got your list of media people who are ready, willing and prepared to distribute the index.

And there you go! Feel free to contact me and Esoko to find out more about setting up a Commodity Index in your country.

Mira Slavova, MIS Researcher

noreply@blogger.com (thebelgian) — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 13:42:00 +0000

My name is Mira Slavova and I am currently working as a researcher at the International Food Policy Research Institute, based in Ghana. I have a long-standing interest in market information systems, and particularly in information systems and ICT-enabled services, capable of streamlining agricultural value chains.

MIS as Intermediaries?

I prefer to consider the broad topics of Market Information Systems (MIS), Warehouse Receipts Systems and Commodity Exchanges in Africa within the context of the intermediation theory of the firm. According to this theory (see Spulber 1999), intermediaries emerge within the space of decentralized trade due to the encountered transaction costs. Firms providing agricultural market information (alongside other services) exist in Africa because decentralized exchange with agricultural commodities is plagued by transaction costs. Intermediated exchange emerges as a stable form of organization because intermediaries are able to economize on transaction costs and deliver net gains from trade, in excess of the gains obtainable from direct exchange.

The Difference between MIS, Warehouse Receipt Systems, and Commodity Exchanges

In considering MISs, Warehouse Receipt Systems and Commodity Exchanges as intermediaries, it is clear that some of these services are involved in more extensive intermediation than others. MISs often define their role purely as that of alleviating market price information asymmetries. MISs deliver mobile price information to farmers, leaving the bargaining and the details of the transactions to the farmers to sort out for themselves. To say the least, in the absence of consistent grading and sorting practices in many value chains in Africa, verifying the correspondence, between the quality of the commodities the price information refers to and the quality of the commodities being traded, becomes a non-trivial matter. By certifying the quality of the commodities and the identities of the buyers and sellers, Warehouse Receipt Systems go one step further in addressing the transaction costs present due to lack of communication between producers and buyers.

Commodity Exchanges go even further by providing an auction mechanism for reaching agreement on the terms of trade. As market-making intermediaries, they determine the mechanism of exchange and institutionalize that mechanism. Commodity Exchanges provide the market microstructure for the transactions between the buyers and the sellers. The market microstructure includes the details of the process through which the exchange occurs. By contrast, the market microstructure on which MISs rely tends to be the product of recurring, customary behaviors on behalf of the buyers and the sellers. The institutions governing their transactions are informal and based on relational norms, rather than formalized.

Reducing Communication Costs

In considering MISs, Warehouse Receipt Systems and Commodity Exchanges as intermediaries, it becomes clear that the differences among these market systems stem from the different transaction costs they are aimed at alleviating. Clearly, there can be numerous sources of transaction costs. The choice of a bundle of transaction costs which to be addressed is part of the strategic positioning of an intermediary. Within the complex social-business hybrid value chains, encountered within the agriculture sector of developing countries nowadays, communication costs can form a significant part of the transaction costs. Technology platforms such as Esoko enable, for-profit and non-profit organizations interested in streamlining agricultural value chains by acting as intermediaries, to address communication costs.

Torsten Herbst, Android Developer

noreply@blogger.com (Esoko) — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 11:58:00 +0000

Hi I'm Torsten and I'm creating the new Esoko app for Android. I'm writing today to share a little bit about Android itself, and about why Esoko is (and everyone else should be) watching out for this next wave in mobile.

What exactly is Android?

Android is an operating system for smartphones developed by Google. Just like the operating system on your laptop or computer, Android provides the layer between your phone's hardware and the applications running on it. Android makes all the cool technologies packed into the new generation smartphones available to you. And there are lots of new technologies in these shiny devices: touch screens to allow you to interact with your phone, high resolution cameras to take pictures, GPS to pinpoint your location, mobile internet to stay connected, screens big and fast enough to play movies and multimedia content. Combine this with ample processing power and storage and you can do things on your phone that you haven't thought of previously, anytime, anywhere.

Why is it important?

As an open source operating system Android is available to any phone manufacturer for free, which has resulted in rapid adoption, innovation and fierce competition. There are already new Android phones out in Kenya for $100 and prices are coming down fast. So just as mobile phones came down in price over the last few years to be affordable for farmers in Africa, so will the new Android devices today. And as the number one selling smartphone operating system it will only be a matter of time before Android phones become available to traders and farmers across Africa at affordable prices.

Esoko & Android

With Esoko on Android you can browse the latest Esoko market prices on your phone, compare prices visually on a map and get in touch with Esoko sellers and buyers with the click of a button. You can be alerted whenever somebody posts an offer to sell maize in your location, you can see the latest market prices and charts in your area as soon as they become available, and you can upload prices, stock, offers, harvest information (this list is endless) into Esoko using the simple touchscreen interface.

Stay tuned for updates and if you have any ideas on how we can improve Esoko on Android, let me know.

Torsten Herbst

November 2010

Andrew Kpeleku, Enumeration Manager

noreply@blogger.com (thebelgian) — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 18:39:00 +0000

I'm Andrew Kpeleku, the Enumeration Manager at Esoko Ghana. That's me on the right, with our Techiman Enumerator, Sampson Aiyedum. Our department is responsible for the collection, upload and validation of data (prices, offers and profiles) from 31 markets across Ghana.

I spend many days in our office in Accra approving data and managing our enumerators, but I also get to go on market visits to see our enumerators throughout the year, and I’ve learned a lot over the years. Here are my top 6 enumeration tips for anyone wanting to collect data from the field:

1) Do basic research on markets

Before markets are set up, it’s prudent to find out the real distance to each market as well as the means to get there. Though the most common means to market areas is by road, water bodies might come one’s way (see my photo of the ferry I have to take to reach one of our markets here). Basic research helps managers plan and budget appropriately.

2) Hire the right people

The importance of accurate data collection must always guide managers in hiring. Experience has shown us here that part-time teachers are very well suited for enumeration jobs in the markets, as they tend to be more responsible and can also easily gain trust from market traders.

3) Don’t forget local measures

As local measures differ from market to market, commodities must be weighed and documented for price calculation. Harvest seasons of commodities also make it necessary to have commodities weighed at least twice in a year, if not more, as a newly harvested commodity found in the market is moisturous and weighs more than older harvests.

4) Keep strict quality control

In the case of a manager doubting any piece of data, the enumerator should be contacted. Esoko Ghana has also adopted a quality control mechanism where in each market covered there is a contact known as a “Market Agent,” who we randomly call to check the veracity of the data uploaded by our enumerators.

5) Incentivize your enumerators

Enumerators should be paid basic salaries for consistency, but by motivating them to meet their targets, incentives can be paid per data upload. When an enumerator hits his/her target a bonus can also be paid.

6) Make your enumeration team a community

As enumerators work in isolation in their respective markets, it's important for managers to stay in constant contact with them. Esoko Ghana organizes biannual meetings for enumerators to share ideas and experiences. This helps them feel part of the Esoko team.

Nuhu Sulemana, Researcher

noreply@blogger.com (thebelgian) — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:29:00 +0000

We're broadening our blog posts to not only share stories of end-users but also of other people that are in the Esoko family in one way or another. We're also letting them tell their experiences in their own voice...hope you enjoy.

Ghana, France, Denmark

My name is Nuhu and I’m working on Impact Studies with Cirad, an international research center for agricultural development. The studies are on the 2nd generation of Market Information Systems (MIS) that are emerging now, and mine is a case study of the Esoko MIS in Ghana. This research is important because we have to see the differences between 1st and 2nd generation MIS. We assume that 2nd generation (in the 2nd generation because of new mobile and internet technologies) have changed MIS and can actually reach the needed impact that MIS has always wanted to achieve. We are now collating data that we collected on the livelihoods and trading patterns of 600 farmers in Ghana, half of whom receive SMS messages from Esoko on prices and half of whom do not. We will then compare responses from the two categories to find out if our ideas about 2nd generation MIS are true or not.

It is so exciting to see people receiving SMS messages on their phones and making better decisions on where to sell and when to sell. What I saw was individuals using the information from the MIS and coming together to store their goods, or transport together, so they could make more money. We have a long way to go to spread this MIS to everyone but the fact that farmers are making requests and spending their own money to get the information really surprised me. I hope that my contribution to MIS research will tell the story in numbers too.

Nuhu Sulemana, August 2010

Jonathan Abudu, Smallholder Farmer

noreply@blogger.com (thebelgian) — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 13:56:00 +0000

Salaga, Northern Ghana

Jonathan cultivates yam tubers. When a buyer came to his small community quoting a very low price, Jonathon sent an SMS price request into Esoko. Realizing the prices in Accra were far higher, and that even paying transport he would make much more for his tubers if he sent them himself, he did just that. His 300 tubers, sold in Accra, gave him 104 extra Ghana cedis than what he would have made if he sold close to his farm. He says that using Esoko brings him confidence selling that he has never experienced before.

Chief Saaka Mahama, Farmer

noreply@blogger.com (thebelgian) — Wed, 19 May 2010 11:17:00 +0000

Outside of Salaga, Ghana

Chief Saaka Mahama, a village chief from Northern Ghana, has been negotiating better deals for his harvests using Esoko price alerts. He recently refused to sell to a buyer who came to his village to buy cashews--citing his Esoko SMS message about the current price in Yendi market, Chief sent him away empty handed. One week later, the buyer returned and bought at Chief's price, giving Chief an extra 100 cedis (70 USD).

Eric Poatab, Farmer

noreply@blogger.com (thebelgian) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 18:49:00 +0000

Chamba, Northern Ghana

Eric Poatob uses Esoko to negotiate better prices with the dealer who comes to his village outside of Chamba. With additional income he's made since he started requesting market prices via SMS, he's been able to increase the size and output of his farm by periodically renting a tractor. He's also paid his tuition for a building construction course in Tamale Polytechnic so he can diversify his business activities and continue increasing his income.

Prosper Biche, Farmer

noreply@blogger.com (thebelgian) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 12:31:00 +0000

Kpandai, Eastern Corridor, Ghana

Esoko users are able to use SMS price alerts to watch price trends and decide when to buy or sell their goods. In small farming communities, this can make a significant difference in revenue. Prosper, whose main crop is yam tubers, explains that difference.“Before Esoko we didn’t know the prices; we just sent our products when they are ready. Now we know the prices and also when to sell our products. Before, I sent my 100 tubers of yam to Accra and could get 20 Ghana cedis for it, now I check prices and go to Accra when prices are good. I could get up to 200 Ghana cedis for the same 100 tubers.”

Ama Prosper, Farmer

noreply@blogger.com (thebelgian) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:28:00 +0000

Kpandai, Eastern Corridor, Ghana

Without knowing the prices in larger markets, Ama Prosper used to always sell her groundnuts in the local market, where she can only sell small quantities and for prices that she has no room to negotiate. For years, she went once a week during the local market day to sell a bowl (5-7 kg). "When you sell a bowl" she says "people measure it with their arm, they always cheat you". Now that she knows the prices for groundnuts in Accra from her Esoko SMS price alerts, she waits for someone she knows to go to Accra and sends along a Bag (100 kg) with them to sell, giving her higher profit and more peace of mind.

Nawagn Bugum, Smallholder Farmer

noreply@blogger.com (thebelgian) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:19:00 +0000

Chamba, Northern Ghana

Nawagn Bugum, who himself does not have a mobile phone, often asks his brother to request prices from Esoko via SMS for him. After the last harvest of maize, he had 5 bags packed and ready to sell. With a request made by his brother, he knew that the prices in Ejura were 1.5 times higher than the local market prices. With the revenue of this deal made in Ejura, he was able to pay the national health insurance for himself and his family that had just expired.

Yahia Awad, MIS Manager

noreply@blogger.com (thebelgian) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:36:00 +0000

Khartoum, Sudan

It seems that Yahia Awad, the MIS manager for FAO-Sudan's Northern Food Security Project (SIFSIA), has been on a clear trajectory in his career to get to exactly where he is today. After decades working inside the Northern Sudanese Ministry of Agriculture in various capacities and then years in the private sector at a large agricultural export company, Yahia has joined the SIFSIA team to lead the MIS component of the project, and most importantly, to make sure that the project becomes not only sustainable but also profitable in the end. His aim is to make the service unquestionably relevant for users across Northern Sudan so that in time there is a viable business in place; one that thrives because it is held accountable to the needs of its customers. His unique perspective and experience in the private sector help him to regard every decision and every bit of information with a different eye than most in his field. The success of any large MIS deployment is dependent upon, first and foremost, having a tireless and dedicated leader who has the ability to work with all facets of the local agricultural community with ease--farmers, traders, associations, businesses and government. In the very particular context of Northern Sudan this understanding is even more essential, and Yahia's experience and presence of mind make the future of MIS in Northern Sudan look promising indeed. Look for Esook (the Arabic Esoko) to go public with their MIS services by the end of this year, with Yahia quietly behind every strategic move.

Naujaven Dabydin, Feed Processor

noreply@blogger.com (thebelgian) — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:58:00 +0000

Antananarivo, Madagascar

As the Director of Operations for LFL in Madagascar, an animal feed company that generates about 100,000 tons of feed annually, Naujaven Dabydin can tell us a lot about the frustration companies face sourcing locally. Even though Naujaven and his company want nothing more than to buy from small farmers who are producing the maize, soya and minerals that the company needs to buy, those producers are largely inaccessible, nearly impossible to trace, and will break their contracts to sell to the highest bidder in the market if they feel it’s in their best interest. So LFL, along with many other companies, end up importing from all over the globe instead of buying locally, simply because they can’t rely on the quality, quantity and availability of goods coming from local markets. What LFL needs is production information in various regions, quantity of product harvested, and information on local weather-- Naujaven reminds us that truly useful market information goes far beyond prices and historical data, but rather needs to be more focused, real-time information coming directly from the field. LFL realizes that buying locally helps everyone, raising incomes for those that need it most, and to that end they offer technical advice to local growers through seminars, in-house trainings and outfield advisory services. But Naujaven and LFL still recognize that the only way to truly secure the market is to have a steady stream of real-time information coming from the field, from the producers themselves, not the other way around.