The results from an independent study with INRA, the French National Institute for National Research, verified that market prices delivered via text message have a positive impact on rural farmer revenues and livelihoods. The study found that smallholder farmers in Northern Ghana have seen a 10% revenue increase receiving and then utilizing Esoko SMS market prices—the first study if its kind to prove impact.
In the study, 600 smallholder farmers were comprehensively surveyed on their trading behaviors over the harvest cycles of 2008 and 2009. Half of those surveyed had been receiving market prices via SMS –with the going prices in wholesale markets across the country delivered weekly to their mobile- and half had not, so the groups could be compared. This 10% increase comes from statistics around the selling prices of three commodities—maize, groundnut and cassava.
Previous Research
Agricultural extension needs and willingness to pay for a Farmer Helpline, Ghana, October, 2011
Evaluating the impact of an SMS-based Market Information System on smallholder farmers in the Volta Region, GNAFF, July-September 2011
Baseline, mid-term & final evaluation on marketing needs and Esoko usage, GIZ Market-Oriented Agricultural Programme, October 2010-November 2011
Mapping the transport system and information needs of transporters in Ghana and Burkina Faso, January 2010
The Effectiveness of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT-based interventions in linking African Farmers to Markets), Electronic Agriculture Research Netwok (eARN Africa), Ghana, 2009
User survey: How Tradenet/Esoko has improved agric marketing, SEND Foundation Ecamic Project, November 2009
A survey of traders in Nima market–market information needs and flows in the market, Accra, Ghana, April 2009
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