Facilitating Smallholder Farmers’ Market Access
In the OIC Member Countries
120
Access to market information has exploded with the proliferation of mobile phones.
Mobile phones make it possible to convey timely, accurate information on prices, buyer
contacts, distribution channels, specifications for grades and standards, and storage
recommendations. Such information significantly reduces the transaction costs for
smallholders. The case study from Bangladesh highlights how mobile phones have
reduced the number of intermediaries in the potato and rice value chains. Because of
mobile phones, farmers can bypass village traders and sell directly to wholesalers.
In Nigeria, mobile phone technology enables the government to target smallholder
farmers more effectively and improve their access to agricultural inputs under the
government’s Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES). The GES provides farmers with a 50
percent subsidy for fertilizer and a 100 percent subsidy for high-yielding hybrid seed (to
speed adoption). The difference between the GES and traditional input supply schemes is
that farmers receive electronic vouchers for subsidized seed and fertilizer on their mobile
phones; the vouchers are used like cash to redeem the inputs from registered private agro-
dealers across the country. This e-wallet system, the first of its kind in Africa, has
revolutionized the marketing and distribution of agricultural inputs .
In Uganda, the Community Knowledge Worker program of the Grameen Foundation
provides agricultural extension services by combining mobile technology and social
networks. In tandem, these information channels give smallholders access to accurate,
timely advice that helps them protect their crops and animals, improve their yields, and
get better market prices .
BOX 5: SCALING UP NIGERIA’S E-WALLET SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING INPUTS TO MILLIONS OF
FARMERS
Under Nigeria’s Growth Enhancement Scheme, the first step in providing vouchers for agricultural inputs to
large numbers of farmers was to register the farmers. Optical Market Reading forms were deployed across
the country, to every ward in every Local Government Area. Some 11,000 enumerators were employed to
register farmers, and the collected data were scanned into a Farmers’ Registration Database. Farmers’
biometric information was captured, and each farmer now has a unique farmer identification card. Of an
estimated 14 million farmers in the country, 10 million have been registered.
In 2012, within 120 days of developing and deploying the e-wallet system, vouchers for subsidized seed and
fertilizer were sent to 1.5 million farmers via their mobile phones. The percentage of farmers who accessed
subsidized seed and fertilizer increased from 11 percent under the old system to 70 percent under the e-
wallet system.
The availability of biometric information on farmers at this scale will undoubtedly affect their access to other
products and services. For example, it has triggered interest from banks across the country. The banks
recognize the advantages of being able to reach millions of farmers directly with loan, savings, micro-
insurance, and other products.
Source: Authors, based on Adesina 2013.