A Mobile phone does operate in Isolation: Fact Content and other ICT enablers are at play

Dear All I would like to state that it is content and its usability that will make the mobile phone tick in the rural communities. Use of the Mobile for data transmission sounds interesting and good for many of the developers. However it is important that we think more of the content [ it collection, analysis, verfication, storage and retrival] by its intended users that makes a tool interesting. Currently the mobile does not score 100% on all those facts but it can be combined with other channels of communication like logical websites or logic driven databases systems to enable some of these functions. As we discuss the the Mobile phone in agricultural Market Information we should be mindful of the kind of data we want the mobilephone to carry. We ( FIT UGANDA) have recently defined market information as '[u] Market Information is a business resource that contributes to know- how and increases the chances for the businesses to manage prevailing situations and plan for future market opportunities.'[/u]. Therefore agricultural market information is more than an indicative price of a commodity but includes other facts that impact on quality, quanitity, delivery and cost of transaction. Below are some the content requirements for an Agricultural Market information system: [u]Input Suppliers[/u] Price details of seeds, Cost of fertilizers, pesticides List of stockists Location of suppliers, weather patterns, [u]Extension services [/u] List of local Service providers, Commercial officers, local institutions. [u]Agricultural Technologies [/u] Farming technologies per commodity , suppliers lists, harvest methodologies, standards, packaging type, handling. [u]Produce Marketing[/u] Variety, Crop type, Associations, bulking store, marketing associations in the area, [u]Agricultural Credit[/u] Banks. MFIs, Packages, Amounts, terms of conditions, area of interest, interest on loans, repayments. [u]Transaction processes[/u] Farm gate prices, off lorry prices, wholesales prices, retail prices. Average spot sale prices, Distances from Markets, mileage costs, transport averages, loading and off loading prices, Season charts , sales planning. We the nature of the information requirements by a farmer or trade in a supply chain, the mobile phone can not function in isolation but needs to be linked to other ICT tools such as internet, physical database and network of people collection : Systems that allow for the collecting, processing and analyse of market data from all business exchange levels i.e. from farmers to consumers on prices, quantities, qualities, delivery times and costs of transaction.