Agricultural Service Delivery Through Mobile Phones: Local Innovation and Technological Opportunities in Kenya

Abstract

The rapid spread of mobile phones across the developing world offers opportunities to improve service delivery for smallscale farmers. International and local companies have already started to capitalize on these opportunities although many mobile phone-enabled services are still at an early stage. Kenya has emerged as a leader in m-service development in Sub-Saharan Africa. This chapter assesses the key factors that have helped the local innovation scene to emerge and reviews existing agricultural m-services that provide Kenyan farmers with access to information and learning, financial services, and input and output markets. The potential impact of m-services is illustrated with the example of the price and marketing service M-Farm. Finally, the chapter assesses current mobile technology trends to offer an outlook on potential future applications.

Systemic perspectives on scaling agricultural innovations. A review

“…(including potential negative implications of particular innovations going to scale). This thus goes beyond installing mechanisms which may foster scaling by establishing enabling conditions for scaling such as local adaptation processes (Millar and Connell 2010), and innovation platforms working on a match between technologies and a conducive institutional and market environment (Kilelu et al 2013) or diffusion mechanisms such as mobile phone based information services (Aker 2011;Baumüller 2016). It would be about defining such a theory of scaling in a systematic way (see Wigboldus et al forthcoming).…”

Mobile Technology and Gender Equality

“…A solid body of literature shows associations between access to ICTs, specifically mobile phones and Internet, and improved food security and agricultural outcomes (Aker 2010;Islam and Gronlund 2007). These studies suggest that the knowledge and information that is available via these technologies can be beneficial to improve agricultural techniques and output (Zhenwei Qiang et al 2012;Baumüller 2016). Mobile phones can positively impact agriculture through better access to information, markets, and financial services in the agricultural sector (Baumüller 2016;Husmann et al 2015).…”

“…These studies suggest that the knowledge and information that is available via these technologies can be beneficial to improve agricultural techniques and output (Zhenwei Qiang et al 2012;Baumüller 2016). Mobile phones can positively impact agriculture through better access to information, markets, and financial services in the agricultural sector (Baumüller 2016;Husmann et al 2015). Mobile phones can also reduce price dispersion across agricultural markets by reducing search costs.…”

Agrometeorological Forecast for Smallholder Farmers: A Powerful Tool for Weather-Informed Crops Management in the Sahel

“…The time-gap between issuing of the forecast and its reception by farmers has long been a critical challenge for agrometeorological warning systems, particularly in the least-developed countries, such as Niger, where information dissemination networks are weak, distances are large, and the extension service has suffered a chronic lack of financial resources for many years. The wide diffusion of mobile phone technology throughout sub-Saharan Africa offers the potential to reduce the time-gap and costs associated with the dissemination of forecasts to farmers [24,25], changing the extension service paradigm. Indeed, the agriculture extension service has for a long time been characterized by, and often criticized because of, its linear knowledge transfer approach and its incapacity to use systematic approaches for service delivery [26].…”