African Farmers Adopt SMS for Market Information

Farmers in Uganda struggling to sell their commodities have a new ally in the marketplace, SMS messaging. Information Communication and Technologies for Africa Rural Development (ICTARD) is the group behind this effort:

There is growing demand for market information as farmers strive to sell their commodities. On a fact finding mission at FOODNET offices in Bugolobi, staff of Information Communication Technology for Africa Rural Development ICTARD were happy to learn the processes through which market information is collected, analyzed and disseminated.

ICTARD an NGO using ICT solutions to eradicate rural poverty is intended to harness information and communication technology for Uganda National Farmer’s Federation and its districts Associations. It does so by setting up websites where farmers can down load agricultural information, accessing information from world space radio and by using the village phone.

The most vital information for farmers today is market opportunities and commodity prices, which is offered by FOODNET through trainings, radio broadcasts and through the telephone SMS media. Hellene Karamaji the Director of ICTARD said that her organization would like to use information from FOODNET especially in training farmers on using market information and weekly prices. The project is working in the districts of Kayunga, Jinja and Luwero.

ICTARD Profile
ICTARD is a company using Information and Communication Technologies to eradicate poverty in rural Uganda using a bottom-up approach in its efforts to eradicate poverty and facilitate development. ICTARD secures the donation of ICT tools from private and public corporations, develops solutions using a combination of those ICT tools, designs projects and implements them in developing countries. This is done through capacity building, applying existing ICTs, and developing suitable ICTs solutions to best meet the needs of our target groups.