FIELD STUDY: SMALLHOLDER CHALLENGES

Lack of Resources: seed, fertilizer, tools, processing equipment, etc.

Lack of Markets or Market Access

Lots of Agricultural Extension, but limited success: Access to reliable Agricultural Information

Limited Access to Communications Technology

Cultural Perceptions of Farming

CHALLENGE: LACK OF INPUT RESOURCES

What are reliable sources of agricultural inputs? Which to use?

How to finance farm improvements?

Are government agricultural agencies reliable? Who is?

CHALLENGE: AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION

CHALLENGE: MARKET ACCESS

Markets may not exist

Smallholders produce too little or too low quality to meet processor needs

High cost of transport - dependence on middlemen

CHALLENGE: PERCEPTION OF FARMING

Respondents mentioned that farming was “digging” and farms were “gardens”

Turning farming from “desperation” to “profitable business”

CHALLENGE: COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

Access to Radio? (ownership, time, etc…)

Access to Cell Phones? (airtime, electricity, etc..)

CASE STUDIES: CURRENT WORK IN UGANDA

Africa Rice Center Videos

Community Knowledge Worker (CKW) Program

Google SMS

Services

Eagle Lager

CASE STUDY #1: AFRICA RICE CENTER - VIDEOS

Agricultural extension through locally produced video – piloting in Hoima, Uganda

Method for addressing the transaction costs of large scale, participatory, face-to-face Agricultural Extension

CASE STUDY #2: COMMUNITY KNOWLEDGE WORKER (CKW) PROGRAM

Attempt to reach smallholders whose information access is limited

Bottleneck: How much information to how many people can a CKW transfer?

CASE STUDY #3: GOOGLE SMS SERVICES

Cell phone based information searches for Health, Agriculture, and Weather

Google Trader: Buy and Sell products using SMS

CASE STUDY #4: EAGLE LAGER

Eagle beer: brewed using local ingredients and grains

Brewery is experimenting with other crops to make even cheaper beer

Michael’s review? Eagle beer is… awful.

SEED IDEAS FOR POSSIBLE PROJECTS

Improved Supply Chain Management

Market Capacity Building

Smarter Agricultural Extension

Better Weather Information

Finance Tracking

Anti-corruption Reporting Tools

Radio Drama

Reality TV Shows (“Pimp My Farm,” “Farm Makeover”)