NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, October 16, 2014

CONNECTED Farmer Alliance (CFA), a public-private partnership between Vodafone Group, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and TechnoServe, has announced an agreement to use mobile technology to increase productivity of thousands of smallholder farmers.

Under the agreement between Olam International and Vodacom Tanzania, around 30,000 of Olam’s coffee, cotton and cocoa smallholder farmers in Tanzania will benefit.

Among the benefits include getting farming advice via text message, notifications about upcoming training sessions and events, real-time information about changes in market prices and introduction of mobile money transfer using M-Pesa service in place of cash from December 2014 onwards. TechnoServe will also provide training for Olam International staff and farmers.