Text Messaging Featured Article

There are certain tools that are fairly universal in terms of farming. The tractor, for example, comes quickly to mind, as does the plow and irrigation systems. But one tool that's making some surprise inroads is the mobile device, and the Connected Farmer Alliance (CFA) is looking to bring this powerful new farming tool to farmers in Tanzania through text messaging.

The CFA is comprised of a partnership between several private companies and public organizations. Involved in the mix is Vodafone (News - Alert) Group, not-for-profit organization TechnoServe, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which will be bringing some extra mobile help to Tanzanian farmers—around 30,000 of same, at last report—providing various cash crops to Olam International, including such staple goods as cocoa, coffee and cotton.

The CFA's aid will come in several forms, ranging from information about training sessions and assorted events to advice on how to farm to the fullest, and even real-time developments in market prices, allowing farmers to get the most up-to-date information about when to take a crop to market. Vodafone will even bring in M-Pesa service, allowing for easier mobile money transfer systems, starting in December 2014. TechnoServe, meanwhile, will offer specific training for staff and farmers alike on how to use this array of new tools, and both better revenue and productivity are likely to follow.

Olam's environmental and social manager for South and East Africa, Jeremy Dufour, offered up some comment ahead of the partnership's initiative, saying “This helps to improve yields and farmer livelihoods while our business benefits from smarter operations and lower costs. Ongoing evaluation from the farmers will be fed back in to the program.”

It appears that the CFA's initiative is going more into expertise and less into in-kind payment, which is a development that's likely welcome to taxpayers in the region. It's no less valuable for not having much of a price tag (News - Alert) to attach to it; ask any farmer who sold soybeans back in April and then tried to sell in September when the price was better than $100 a ton different by Chicago Soybean futures pricing. The point here is that the right bit of knowledge at the right time can make the difference between a huge sale and just off subsistence sales levels.

Text messaging is a spectacular way to put that knowledge in hand quickly, and farmers can move according to the best moves in the market. Throw in the ability to more rapidly disseminate information about meetings and events, and the farmers have a complete, connected base from which to work, a development that will likely provide boosts to everything from crop yields to overall profitability.

Only time will tell just how well the CFA's initiative works out; it will be at least December before every part of it is even in place. But with what's poised to be offered here, it's a pretty safe bet that this will end up nicely indeed for all concerned. Farming has never been a simple—or an easy—business, but it's clear that with the use of the right kind of technology, from text messaging to mobile payments, it can be made just a little smoother for those involved in it.