By Frank Kadzakumanja
Agricultural Commodity Exchange for Africa (ACE) is a
nongovernmental organization that facilitates trade by encouraging
trade to be structured by providing ways to efficiently access
markets. This enables buyers and sellers to discover new markets,
locally, regional and international. Access is conducting
road shows across Malawi to promote its boosta airtime and
cellphones. It is against this background that Ace has partnered
with Access communications Limited to promote ESOKO which is a
system that enables farmers receive sms notifications about
commodity prices. During this time and age, technology still stands
out as a fastest means of communicating to a larger audience at a
single time. It has always been a challenge for farmers to know the
right prices. Therefore, farmers have been selling their
commodities at a low price because of not knowing how other markets
are charging for the same crop. The advantage of knowing the right
price is that a farmer is able to sell at a higher price and
increase his profits thereby improving his income.
Among
the audience, an access official wearing Access
attire
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On 20th June, Access communications conducted a
road show in Mchinji 111 km from Lilongwe to promote its boosta
(airtime), cellphones as well as ESOKO.
The local community was engaged to listen about ACE and its
ESOKO programme. Thereafter, questions were asked to the
audience and those that got the answers right were given
consolation prices like zitenje, access airtime as well as
phones.
To spice up the show, a reknown music artist who is also Access
brand ambassador, Maskal, spiced up the show and performed his
favorite hits. Customers who bought access phones were requested to
fill SMS Alert Subscription Sheets to benefit from ESOKO so that
they receive free farm prices for the first three months. They were
also asked to pick one crop and choose six markets to get wholesale
or retail market prices from. With this system, a farmer in
Chikhwawa can enroll to receive prices from Balaka, Jenda, Mchinji,
Kasungu, Mzimba and Zomba. This helps farmers make informed
decisions and attain bargaining power. Traders were also encouraged
to subscribe to this service because they will be able to know
which markets to focus their business on. With ESOKO, farmers
are able to learn about other market situations without necessarily
going there. This gives a farmer quite a bit of an advantage over
some of the other types of day traders by making it easier to keep
track of news that may or may not affect a particular market.
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| The outcome
Farmers who had a chance to buy access phones were registered
for ESOKO.
The community was made aware about Ace and its ESOKO programme
and the benefits derived from knowing the right price.
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Going forward
There was a challenge on the target market involved. The places
chosen for the activation by Access are mainly trading centers and
urban areas. However, most farmers are based in the rural areas.
Therefore there is a need for ACE to strategically choose specific
areas where there are more farmers who trade to take part in this
activation.
Across african markets, small holder farmers sell their produce
just after harvest when markets are in surplus and prices are low.
Traditional leaders, farmers clubs as well as the local community
need to be sensitized on the benefits of knowing the right prices
of commodities.
Finally, ESOKO needs special recognition and ACE needs to
continue promoting it so that every local farmer in Malawi knows
it.
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Maskal spicing up the price
information promotion in Mchinji
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