New innovation could weed out middlemen in agro-marketing

Problems of unfair trade, cheating by middlemen and lack of market that have plagued farmers across Africa and Rwanda in particular, for ages could soon be history thanks to a new agro-marketing innovation, Rural eMarket.Andrian Rasoanindrainy, the Farming and Technology Initiatives of Africa project co-ordinator, said once it is rolled out, the mobile phone-based technology will help farmers access vital information to enable them plan their farming activities according to market trends.Rasoanindrainy touted the technology as a complete integrated information system which could make it possible for rural farmers, agro-dealers and other stakeholders to share market information.“It can trigger many changes in producers and buyers behaviours and improve market transparency and dynamics,” he said while discussing the impact of the innovation during the ongoing ICT for Agriculture Summit in Kigali on Monday.The summit seeks to find ways of using information communication technologies to boost agro-production and marketing in Africa.“eMarket allows anybody registered in the database to see what’s available on the market, products that are on demand or those in excess,” Rasoanindariny explained. He noted that without eMarket, farmers often walk long distances to market their produce or get information on market trends.“Equally, producers can be able to search market information on their mobile phones, saving time, energy and money,” he said.He noted that farmers are often cheated by middlemen because they lack market information.Dr. Agnes Kalibata, the Minister for Agriculture, said Rwanda is ready to take on new innovations to boost the already existing ones that farmers are currently using in information and knowledge sharing. Kalibata cited a local online platform, e-Soko, as one such marketing innovation. In East Africa, Rural eMarket is currently being used in Kenya, but it is popular in Asian countries and Latin America.“Our farming is not market-led, meaning that we normally produce what is not required by the market. Worse still, you don’t know how much you are likely to earn. “With eMarket, all this will change. It will help us plan better and adopt new agro-marketing strategies, if it is introduced in Rwanda,” Donata Kabalisa, a farmer in Musanze District, said.Innocent Musabyimana, the Rwanda Agricultural Board deputy director in charge of agricultural extension, said the technology will help farmers grow crops, depending on the available market at any given time.“Farmers will no longer wait to first harvest produce to start marketing it. Farmers can send their offer in time and ensure quality to fetch a good bargain,” Musabyimana said.What is more, farmers will not need to carry the produce to the market, but just announce it on the eMarket platform and “anyone with access to the system can view and buy the product directly”. According to Giacomo Rambaldi, taking produce to the market is always a challenge for many rural households, making eMarket a timely intervention, if it is introduced in the country.“Presently, farmers depend on intermediaries to sell produce and access credit or information. If these innovations are adopted, farmers will access all the information they need instantly on his mobile phone, which saves time and money,” Rambaldi noted.Experts have urged agriculture stakeholders to harness the explosion of mobile applications to improve the sector to transform the way the industry operates in Africa.

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New innovation could weed out middlemen in agro-marketing