World Bank Group member organisation IFC has partnered with Mozambique’s top University, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (UEM), and Vodacom to launch an SMS information toolkit in Mozambique for farmers and Small/medium-sized enterprises (SME).
IFC says the SME Toolkit is an online, interactive program that leverages the latest information and communication technologies to increase the farmers’ and businesses’ access to markets.
The information is free and timely, notes IFC.
IFC Director for East and Southern Africa Jean Philippe Prosper said that in many countries in Africa, small-scale farmers and businessmen do not have access to reliable market information, which prevents them from getting full market value for their products.
“The SMS system launched by IFC, Vodacom and UEM provides timely information on market trends, which will help farmers and entrepreneurs in Mozambique set better price and sell their products widely leading to increased incomes,” he said.
The three partners work together but on different tasks. The UEM gathers and uploads to the portal information on commodity prices, legal information, taxation and other pertinent news for farmers and small businesses in Mozambique. Vodacom and other partnering operators receive the information as SMS to be relayed to their subscribers. IFC monitors UEM content to ensure it is relevant and accurate.
The SMS system provides farmers and entrepreneurs with comparative prices from different markets, analyses weather conditions and educates on seed choice.
Speaking on the expected impact of the platform, Orlando Quilambo, Rector head of UEM said, launching the SMS system with a global telecom operator like Vodacom is a great achievement to the university’s strategy to support businesses by providing them with timely information.
He expects the system to improve the lives of farmers and business people in Mozambique.
The partnership between UEM and IFC dates back to 2010, when the university was selected as the SMEToolkit partner in Mozambique. UEM has since been uploading information to the Mozambican SMEToolkit website, turning it into a one-stop shop for businesses in the country. To date, the site has logged more than 200,000 SME visitors. It now has about 3,400 registered users.
The recent introduction of the SMS service will however make the information accessible to more farmers and traders.
According to CIA World Factbook, Mozambique has slightly over 7 million mobile subscribers of its 23 million population. More than 31 percent of the Mozambique’s are farmers while 44 percent work in the services sector.
