IFDC Farmers need more market information Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State 6 May 2011 at FAO, Rome Bridget Okumu IFDC

Improving access to market and technical information on agricultural inputs in Eastern and Southern Africa

IFDC The AMITSA objectives  Linking agro-dealers to agro input suppliers  Linking agro-dealers to farmers  Reducing transaction costs and time  Improving agro-input availability and use

IFDC The AMITSA approach  Building networks and partnerships at regional and local levels  Engaging agro-dealers as primary providers and users of MIS  Ensuring free access and sharing of market information using web and mobiles

IFDC AMITSA partners From international to regional and local partners Agro input industry Trade associations Farmers groups Public sector Research Projects Donors

IFDC The AMITSA network  8 countries  230 agro-dealers  120 towns  50 agro-inputs Fertilizers Seeds Pesticides  Retail prices  Sales trends BURUNDI KENYA MALAWI MOZAMBIQUE RWANDA TANZANIA UGANDA ZAMBIA 2011 _________ ZIMBABWE SWAZILAND ETHIOPIA

IFDC Building and promoting the network  Capacity building TOT for AMITSA champions (24 in Dec 2010) Agro dealers trainings (230 in 8 countries) AMITSA partners training (22 in May 2011)  Promotion AMITSA launch in Nairobi (FCI summit, May 2011) Participation in 10 workshops, conferences AMITSA in COMRAP trainings Brochures, videos, interviews, pictures

IFDC  Website (2010)  Mobile apps (2011)  Social media (Sept) Prices | Online statistics | Directories | Market news | Publications | Events

IFDC Monthly price reports  Local, national and international  Retail prices  Sales trends ______________ Free  Online reports  On line statistics  Newsletter: new ! Pesticide average price (US$) per pack FungicideHerbicideInsecticide Copper Hydroxide (eq 50%) Mancozeb (80% WP) 2,4-D Amine (720 G/l Sl) Glyphosat e (360 g/l) Chlorpyrifos- ethyl (480 G/l) Dimethoat e (400 G/l) Country1 kg 1 litre Burundi Kenya Malawi Mozambique Rwanda Tanzania Uganda Zambia

IFDC Uganda Fertilizer prices

IFDC International price 08/2011

IFDC

Going mobile with esoko  Posting and getting prices  Sharing market information with 10,000+ agro-dealers and more than 100,000 farmers  NEXT: Technical, market and extension messages _______________  2-way  Customized  Any phone

IFDC Delivering information to agro dealers on their mobile phones  7,000 SMS pm reaching 370 AMITSA agro dealers since June 2011  Up to 100,000 SMS pm reaching up to 15,000 agro dealers in 8 ESA countries by end of 2011

IFDC Achievements  IT development Mobile tools (data collection & sharing) and Website, Facebook and Twitter in Sept 2011, Media gallery, input catalogue  Technical trainings: Agro dealers and partners  Data processing & sharing price database, mobile alerts, SMS push, s, websites, E-newsletters  Agro input data mining (non-price data) in ESA (KE,UG,TZ)  AMITSA promotion and partnership  AMITSA expansion  Staff development

IFDC Challenges  Sustaining agro dealers Keeping agro dealers motivated to continue to voluntarily send monthly input prices  Technology New mobile tools introduced in 2011 need continuous fixing (MOBI,SMS push, network compatibility).  Complexity of input MIS  Measuring impacts

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