Small holder farmers can benefit from an online marketplace, that links potential buyers and sellers of agricultural produce.
In Uganda, my home country I have seen some efforts to do this, some of these initiatives are donor funded, others are privately owned. The problem with some of the market places I have seen is that they have been poorly designed both from an archeticture aspect and the underlying technology is poorly designed and barely functional.
Some can argue that small farmers will not embrace technology as they are barely literate. This of course holds little or no water. Farmers are organized and you can easily find 1 member in the different farmer and social groups who has a smart phone and can use technologies such as whatsapp.
At Blue Node Media (an I.T. Consulting firm based in the USA and Uganda), we have developed an online marketplace that can help connect farmers find markets. Farmer groups can register and post items for sale, and buyers can reach them. We have made the platform simple, interactive and accessible using low bandwidth.
The platform is very simple to use and we expect it to grow with time. We don't expect instant success, as we in this for the long haul. Unlike other platforms which varnish when the donor funding ends, we have a robust monetization plan that will come into effect, after we start analyzing user behavior.
Cavin Mugarura
Technical Lead / Founder
Blue Node Media
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.bluenodemedia.com
Cavin Mugarura