AGRA integrates ICT into agriculture to spur productivity

The Alliances for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) in partnership with Image-Ad has introduced an Information Communication Technology (ICT) services into agriculture to spur growth and productivity of smallholder farmers in six African countries including Ghana.

The technology uses mobile phones and software that could send SMS and voice messages to farmers about extension services, marketing and all other important messages relating to agriculture to ensure that smallholder farmers achieved increased productivity across the value chain.

As part of the partnership, AGRA under its Market Access Programme has provided $957,475 to Image-Ad for a three-year period to mount this mobile and internet-based software that would link thousands of farmers in Ghana with a wide range of information and services to boost crop yields and to locate buyers to make transactions more transparent. 

Madam Garcia Armelle Chedoi Honvoh, Head of Business Development of Image-AD Ghana, said the project known as mFarms had profiled over 20,000 farmers in Ghana on the platform which allows them to build relationship with marketing agents and other aggregators.

She said farmers accessing mFarms on their phones receive information about good agricultural practices, where to locate agro-dealers and the prices and availability of inputs such as seeds and fertilizers noting that aggregators or Farmer Based Organizations (FBOs) uses the platform to extend extension services to farmers.


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Taken from Business Ghana