The impact of mobile phones for agricultural information dissemination in the south western Uganda

[Knowledge base]

Kenneth Masuki, scientist at the World Agroforestry studied the impact of mobile phones for agricultural information dissemination in the south western Uganda. His analysis tend to confirm the positive impact of phones for farmers’ access to market and building of social capital. The data come from recorded usage of mobile phones which were given to farmers of the Rubaya sub-County. The results showed that “peak usage for the mobile phones coincided with planting and harvesting. During the planting season most of the mobile use was used for enquiring about crop plantation time, where to source seeds and what types of inputs to buy. During harvesting, most calls related to about finding out about prevailing market prices.”

The study also show that there are different trend in the way male and woman used their phone. However, “80% of farmers said the use of phones improved their livelihood”. Indeed, the mobile helped them to increase their social capital and lead to the creation of potato collection centres and small and local business. Moreover farmers had an easier access to market prices and could network with other farmers and negociate their prices.

As this study show, even if the network was deficient in some areas and the phone utilization was hard for some users, mobile phones do improve farmers livelihood.

For more information see: http://www.worldagroforestrycentre.org/newsroom/highlights/study-finds-mobile-phones-empower-rural-farmers