Improving market access and extension through SMS-based services and voluntary farmer training. Nicholas Minot and Steven Franzel

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1 Improving market access and extension through SMS-based services and voluntary farmer training Nicholas Minot and Steven Franzel

delivering information to farmers via two ways Delivering market and extension information by using mobile

2 Background Farming is an information-intensive business Smallholder farmers must have access to the latest market and technical information to be able use their resources successfully FoodAfrica examined the effectiveness of delivering information to farmers via two ways Delivering market and extension information by using mobile communication Community-based approach utilizing volunteer farmer trainers in extension Can these approaches benefit farmers and how?

IFPRI Presented at the SPIA/PIM Conference on Impacts of International

3 Does market information delivered via SMS help farmers market crops: Evidence from Ghana and Uganda Nicholas Minot Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI Presented at the SPIA/PIM Conference on Impacts of International Agricultural Research: Rigorous evidence for Policy ICRAF, Nairobi, 6 July 2017

4 4 Methods: Collaborating institutions IFPRI Nicholas Minot, Bradley Sawyer, and Samson Dejene Overall coordination, planning, analysis, & interpretation LUKE, Economics and society Mila Sell, Jarkko Niemi, and Jaakko Heikkilä Planning, analysis, and interpretation Gender analysis of household survey data Willingness-to-pay module in endline surveys ICRAF Assistance in review of market info systems in Ghana ISSER (Ghana) Implementation of baseline and endline household surveys in Ghana Geoffrey Kiguli (Uganda) Survey consultant who organized the baseline survey in Uganda Esoko (Ghana) Provision of agricultural price information via SMS to selected beneficiaries FIT-Uganda Provision of agricultural price information to selected beneficiaries

5 Research question Does market information delivered by SMS to farmer phones help them with crop marketing? Methods: RCT and willingness-to-pay module Baseline surveys Ghana: 1290 households from stratified random sample of northern Ghana, Oct-Dec 2011 Uganda: 1440 households from stratified random sample from 8 purposively selected districts, Dec 2012-Jan 2013 Interventions Provide agricultural market information, weather info, and extension info via SMS to random sub-sample of surveyed farmers Ghana: Esoko Ltd provides service Uganda: FIT-Uganda provides service Endline surveys Ghana: 1158 households from the baseline, Mar-May 2015 Uganda: 1418 households from the baseline, Nov-Dec

6 Most farmers own working mobile phones Rapid growth in ownership of mobile phones In both countries, 4 out of 5 farmers owns at least one working phone Ghana ownership was lower but has almost caught up

7 Farmers feel uninformed about markets.. but don t use phones for market information

8 Agricultural market seem relatively competitive

9 Traders are by far the main buyers in both countries.. but location of sale differs. 9

10 Median market surplus ratio is about 36% Fewer farmers with no sales in Uganda (14%) than northern Ghana (28%) Median is 38% in Uganda and 34% in Ghana No clear distinction between subsistence and commercial farmers; full range

11 Phone ownership related to hh size, income, & education Households owning mobile phones tend to have more members, higher income, and more education Sex of head of household is not significant after controlling for other factors Probit model Dependent variable = mobile ownership (1=yes, 0=no) Ghana Household size Farm size Log of per capita income Female headed household Age of head of household Education of head Head can read Head can write Uganda

12 48% of Ugandan farmers & 66% of Ghanaian farmers use phones every week Share of farmers using it every week, most weeks, or at harvest was 85% in both countries

13 Majority of farmers said mkt info very useful More said very useful in Ghana (80%) than in Uganda (52%) Over 79% said it was very useful or somewhat useful

14 Mkt info was useful in Ghana for timing of sale and in Uganda for price negotiation In both countries, most common response were that info helped farmer negotiate a better price and decide when to sell Farmers in Uganda provided more reasons than those in Ghana

15 Some farmers did not find mkt info useful because prices not relevant or can t understand SMS Three most important reasons are 1) prices for markets that are not relevant, 2) can t read or understand SMS messages, and 3) sales were too small

16 Summary High level of satisfaction with the market information services in both countries Discrete-choice experiments suggest willingness to pay for SMS market information service But little or no impact of mkt info on prices received by farmers Possible explanations for limited of price effect Measurement error in collecting price data Sample smaller than planned because of difficulting finding & recruiting farmers Some farmers sell only a small share of their crop production (14/28% have no sales) Farmer locations were randomly selected, some far from reported market towns

17 Thank you! Comments and suggestions welcome

18 Volunteer farmer trainers(vfts): Evidence for assessing effectiveness and improving implementaton Steven Franzel, Evelyne Kiptot (ICRAF) 18

19 Partners that contributed Eija Laitinen, HAMK University Brent Simpson, Michigan State University Josephine Kirui, Jane Kugonza, Ann Degrande, Sygnola Tsafack, ICRAF

20 Objectives and Methods Farming is increasingly knowledge-intensive, yet extension staff are few. Can volunteer farmer trainers (VFTs) help close this gap? VFT approach widely used but no studies available on lessons across organizations/countries Our objective: to assess effectiveness of VFT approach and ways to improve it Our methods: surveys of extension managers, VFTs, and trainees in Kenya, Uganda, Cameroon and Malawi. Here we focus on four research questions: How many farmers do VFTs train? What do extension providers view as main benefits/challenges? What motivates VFTs? Can VFTs help improve women s access to information?

21 1. How many farmers do VFTs train? Cameroon Uganda 24 Median Kenya Mean Rwanda Figure 1. Numbers of farmers trained per VFT over last month

22 2. Extension providers views of benefits and difficulties Figure 1. Organizations views on benefits of F2FE Capacity bldg Low cost Incr. adoption Malawi Kenya Sustainability Incr. coverage Percentages of organizations

23 Figure 2. Organizations views on difficulties of F2FE Conflicts Training FTs Limited budget Drop out rates FT Expectatio Malawi Kenya Percentages of organizations

24 Research question 3: Find out what motivates VFTs Table: Motivations for farmers to become and remain farmer trainers: Cameroon, Kenya and Malawi Motivations Project material benefits Knowledge For becoming a trainer % scoring motivation as important Social status/ networking Helping others Income from extension activities

25 Motivations for farmers to become and remain farmer trainers: Cameroon, Kenya and Malawi Motivations For becoming a trainer For remaining a trainers Project material benefits 22 Gain knowledge 61 Social status and networking 17 Helping others 56 Income from extension activities* 14 % scoring motivation as important *From Kenya and Malawi only

26 Motivations for farmers to become and remain farmer trainers: Cameroon, Kenya and Malawi Motivations For becoming a trainer For remaining a trainers % scoring motivation as important Project material benefits Gain knowledge Social status and networking Helping others Income from extension activities* *From Kenya and Malawi only

27 Find out what motivates your VFTs and apply low cost methods for motivating them Motivation Incentives Altruism, social status Knowledge Income-generating activities Contests, certificates, badges, community recognition Training, study tours, training materials Links to buyers of inputs and services

30 extension organizations, Kenya 33 43 EADD Project, Uganda Min.

28 4. Can VFTs help improve women s access to info? Key problem: Women lack access to advisory services and proportion of women extension staff is low. 30 extension organizations, Kenya EADD Project, Uganda Min. of Agriculture, Malawi % staff who are women % farmer trainers who are women But do women train more woman than men do? Figure 1. Proportion of staff and lead farmers who are women

29 Women train many more women than mend do Proportion of women trained by female and male farmer trainers Female trainers % trained who are women Male trainers % trained who are men % of trainees

Policy implications VFTs do help improve women s access to info A pro-active approach is needed to recruit female farmer trainers using such methods as to: Establish quotas

30 Policy implications VFTs do help improve women s access to info A pro-active approach is needed to recruit female farmer trainers using such methods as to: Establish quotas for female farmer trainers Target womens groups Propose that married couples take on roles as farmer trainers Provide child care during training sessions for farmer trainers

31 Summary points Volunteer Farmer Trainer approach is effective in helping extension providers train more farmers Find out what motivates your VFTs and apply low cost methods for motivating them Recruit more women as VFTs to improve women s access to info.

Steven Franzel. Brent M. Simpson. MEAS Symposium -- Evidence for the Field Washington D.C. 5-7 June World Agroforestry Center

Steven Franzel. Brent M. Simpson. MEAS Symposium -- Evidence for the Field Washington D.C. 5-7 June World Agroforestry Center MEAS Symposium -- Evidence for the Field Washington D.C. 5-7 June 2013 Steven Franzel World Agroforestry Center Brent M. Simpson Michigan State University Issues Covered F2F Concept & Study Objectives