Content remains one of the main bottlenecks for the success of mobile agriculture solutions. There is a lack of affordable content that doesn’t require significant effort to customise for selected markets and channels. This challenge is intensified by the diversity of content needs depending on the type of farming, value chain and stage of the crop cycle.
Gates Foundation Grand Challenges Application Instructions - 0 views
Emerging Trends In Mobile Agriculture - Highlights from mAgri's event at M4D Summit | M... - 0 views
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CABI, ILRI
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information is needed, but farmers might not be willing or ready to pay for it. At the same time the perceived value of mobile services that facilitate or support transactions is much higher, as farmers need access to inputs, equipment and infrastructure, capital and markets – information by itself is simply not enough to make a difference on small-holders productivity and income. It’s apparent that the next generation of mobile agriculture services is likely to be represented by a spectrum of bundled services,
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The solution should be bundled. But if the information needs are heterogeneous how can you bundle? Standardize or make different bundles? Can we use customer information to customize bundles?
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The first Mobile for Development Summit provided a unique opportunity to gather first-hand insights from the emerging field of mobile agriculture, and GSMA mAgri team hosted a round-table discussion at the event
FINAL REPORT FAO/WHO Regional Conference on Food Safety for Africa - 0 views
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Street foods play an important socio-economic role in African economies in terms of employment potential. Although street food vendors come from diverse backgrounds, the majority are female heads of households. For example, a 2003 census of street vendors in Harare, Zimbabwe showed that about 8 631 people were involved in the business of street food vending15, of which 81% were women. Most of these vendors employ other people to assist with the business and thus consider themselves as employers. A similar census conducted in Lusaka, Zambia in 2003 recorded 5 355 food vendors with a further 16 000 people employed by the business owners. It is estimated that the Lusaka food vendors sell about 81 million meals per ann
Africa RISING | Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation - 0 views
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Sustainable intensification of mixed crop livestock systems is a key pathway towards better food security, improved livelihoods and a healthy environment. As part of the US government's Feed the Future initiative to address hunger and food security issues in sub-Saharan Africa, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is supporting three multi-stakeholder agricultural research projects to sustainably intensify key African farming systems. These are intended to catalyze concerted research and action by governments and donor agencies around pressing issues.This website reports on the activities of these projects which form a Program: 'Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation - Africa RISING.'
iAGRI Proceedings of 3 August 2012.pdf - Google Drive - 0 views
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Provides thematic areas for iAgri
Carolyn Nombo - 0 views
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Jeckoniah, J., Nombo, C., Mdoe, N. (2012). Women Empowerment in Agricultural Value Chains: Voices from Onion Growers in Northern Tanzania. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences Vol 2, No.8, Pp 54-60 Jeckoniah, J., Nombo, C., Mdoe, N. (2012). Determinants of Women Empowerment in Onion Value Chains: A Case of Simanjiro District in Tanzania. Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development Vol 2, No.8, Pp 54-60
Creating jobs in Africa's fragile states : are value chains an answer? - 0 views
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The report argues that in Sub-Saharan Africa, where almost three-quarters of the labor force still works in agriculture, agricultural value chains may have the greatest potential to diversify rural economies, raise household incomes, and thereby contribute to stability. The core of value chain development involves strengthening relationships a critical task in fragile and post- conflict environments, where trust and social cohesion have been shattered.
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Value Chains help in post conflict settings
Food Safety Requirements in African Green Bean Exports and Their Impact on ... - Julius... - 0 views
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See Table 3. Shows Costs and income by grower type. Collective growing arrangements decrease costs of meeting standards.
Understanding how respondents view food safety risks: Implications to the design of wil... - 0 views
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WTP can vary non-linearly with other factors. First, WTP depends on peoples understanding of risk (and since most folks do not understand probabilities), they may overestimate or underestimate risk and hence WTP. Another issue is the risk of food borne illness varies from purchase to preparation. If we can reduce foodborne illness by preparation, then WTP would decrease.
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WTP can vary non-linearly with other factors. First, WTP depends on peoples understanding of risk (and since most folks do not understand probabilities), they may overestimate or underestimate risk and hence WTP. Another issue is the risk of food borne illness varies from purchase to preparation. If we can reduce foodborne illness by preparation, then WTP would decrease.
http://www.kilimohai.org/sites/default/files/toam%20directory%202011_0.pdf - 0 views
Potential Demand for a New Value-Added Cowpea Product as Measured by the Willingness-to... - 0 views
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The objective of this paper is to assess the potential demand for a new value-added cowpea product – cowpea flour for purchase by women street food vendors. We use a non-hypothetical real purchase decision mechanism that involves real purchase exchanges of 1 kg packages of cowpea flour in a real market environment in Niamey, Niger. Completed market transactions were bounded between an upper and lower limit price. Our results indicate that kossai vendors’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) for 1kg of cowpea flour exceeds the costs of production including a retail margin. Differences in WTP averages for different groups of vendors (economic status, vendor processor type and scale of production) were found to be statistically significant. Potential exists for profitable entrepreneurial activity in the cowpea flour business targeting women street vendors from more affluent neighborhoods; those using the wet milling process and those who are medium and large scale vendors.
AgEcon Search: Collective Action Initiatives to Improve Marketing Performance: Lessons ... - 0 views
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The primary inquiry of this study is to identify and understand the underlying factors that enable smallholder farmer groups to improve their market situation. The specific objective of this paper is to examine to what extent certain group characteristics and asset endowments facilitate collective action initiatives to improve group marketing performance. This objective is approached through an evaluation of a government-led program in Tanzania, which is attempting to increase smallholder farmers' incomes and food security through a market-oriented intervention. Findings suggest that more mature groups with strong internal institutions, functioning group activities, and a good asset base of natural capital are more likely to improve their market situation. Gender composition of groups also factors in group marketing performance. It acts as an enabling factor for male-dominated groups and as a disabling factor for female-only groups. Structural social capital in the form of membership in other groups and ties to external service providers, and cognitive social capital in the form of intragroup trust and altruistic behavior are not significant factors in a group's ability to improve its market situation.
AgEcon Search:Risk Belief, Producer Demand, and Valuation of Improved Irrigations: Resu... - 0 views
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The study uses Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) to elicit farmers' Willingness to Pay (WTP) for eliminating the risks of crop loss by accessing improved irrigation schemes. Data for the analysis were gathered using a double bounded survey from over 200 randomly-sampled farmers in 15 villages. The study makes a contribution to the applied welfare literature and should also be useful for policymakers in Africa. The policy contribution consists of valuation of improved irrigation in the presence of climate change risks. The applied welfare contribution consists of empirical evidence about the impact of farmer's risk aversion on welfare valuation. Pratt and Zeckhauser (1996) argue on conceptual grounds that in the absence of complete contingent claims market, individual WTP per unit of risk reduction will depend significantly on the level of risk and the magnitude of reduction that is offered. The present study captures individual farmer's risk exposure by constructing an index for farmers' expected rainfall. Since mean WTP is nonlinear in its parameters, mean WTP is computed based on the Krinsky and Robb (1986) method, which simulates the confidence interval and the achieved significance levels (ASL) for testing the null hypothesis that WTP≤0. The results show that farmers with lower expectations about future rainfall are willing to pay more for accessing the improved irrigation scheme. In addition, Mt. Kilimanjaro farmers are willing to pay up to 10% of their income to have access to improved irrigation canals. Assuming a 5% discount rate, the study found that farmers will reimburse the cost of building the irrigation scheme after 7 to 9 years.
AgEcon Search: Comparing Accuracy and Costs of Revealed and Stated Preferences: The Cas... - 0 views
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Experimental auctions produced the most realistic results for mean willingness to pay. They are also the most accurate at all budget levels, but also the most expensive. Considering their accuracy and realistic results, we conclude that they should be the recommended method in measuring consumer preference in developing countries, since the extra cost is more than recovered by the gain in accuracy.
Cost of Compliance | International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) - 0 views
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One of the main reasons that small- and medium-scale producers are often not participating in growing export markets for high-value agricultural commodities is that they cannot meet strict food safety and quality requirements associated with the delivery of their product to distant and more formal markets. These producers face four distinct problems: 1) how to produce safe food, 2) how to be recognized as producing safe food, 3) how to identify cost-effective technologies for reducing risk, and 4) how to be competitive with larger producers who have the advantage of economies of scale for compliance with food safety requirements. At the same time, lower standards are often applied for domestic markets in LDCs. This project examined the export flows of Green Beans from Kenya, Ethiopia, and Zambia to the EU. The study focused on the five research questions - a) any food safety requirements imposed by green bean importers and the national government. b) how producers and exporters meet those requirements, c) are small-holders squeezed out by these requirements, and d) what are the spillover effects of food safety regulations for exports on the domestic market?
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The article on green beans is here: http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/pubs/pubs/dp/ifpridp00737.pdf The basic finding is that smallholders can only compete if they join forces into producer groups.
Urban Consumers' Willingness to Pay for Quality of Leafy Vegetables along the Value Cha... - 0 views
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Improvement in income in developing countries has led to emergence of middle and high income consumers. In major urban centers there has been rapid expansion of the grocery sections selling variety of leafy vegetables in leading retail stores. This study examines the willing of the urban consumers to pay for quality of leafy vegetables and the drivers of willingness to pay for the quality. It considered a broad range of quality attributes including safety, nutrition, price, sensory, convenience, environmental friendliness, hygiene and ethics. The study found that mean willingness to pay for quality was highest among high income consumers. It also found that confidence and consistency, subjective knowledge, reference point, income and age of children the consumer has were the main explanatory variable for WTP. The study concludes that there is demand for quality of leafy vegetables and discusses policy implications.