Effect of Participation in ICT-Based Market Information Services on Transaction Costs and Household Income Among Smallholder Farmers in Malawi

The need to provide agricultural information to farmers has led to emergence of numerous electronic-based MIS projects in developing countries. These projects aim at promoting farmer linkage to better markets. However, experiences from past and present projects show mix cases of success and failure, despite some projects meeting their goals. This study examines how the environments in which such ICT-based MIS are deployed affect their performance. It specifically uses two ICT-based market information service projects, the DrumNet and Kenya Agricultural Commodity Exchange (KACE) projects, to assess how the socio-economic, physical, and institutional environments in such projects are deployed affect the performance of such projects. The study finds that a number of environmental factors related to socio-economic, physical, market, and legal environment affect the performance of ICT-based projects. Some of these factors exacerbate transactions costs thus undermining the performance and even sustainability of ICT-based MIS projects. It discusses policy implications of these findings.

Download Full-text

Awareness and the Use of Mobile Phones for Market Linkage by Smallholder Farmers in Kenya

E-Agriculture and E-Government for Global Policy Development ◽

10.4018/978-1-60566-820-8.ch001 ◽

2010 ◽

pp. 1-18 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Julius Juma Okello ◽

Ruth M. Okello ◽

Edith Ofwona-Adera

Keyword(s):

Mobile Phones ◽

Smallholder Farmers ◽

Market Information ◽

Farmers Market ◽

Ict Adoption ◽

Market Linkage ◽

Female Farmers ◽

High Level ◽

The Cost ◽

Agricultural Input

In many developing countries smallholder farmer participation in agricultural input and output markets continues to be constrained by lack of market information. Actors in most developing country markets operate under conditions of information asymmetry which increases the costs of doing business and locks out smallholder farmers. Attempts to address this problem are currently focusing on the use of ICT technologies to provide market information and link farmers to markets. This study examines the awareness and use of one such technology – mobile phones. It finds for male and female smallholder farmers in Kenya a high level of awareness and widespread use of mobile phones, mainly for social purposes. This study further finds that a low level of education, the cost of mobile phone airtime recharge vouchers and the lack of electricity for recharging phone batteries are the major impediments to the ownership and use of mobile phones, with female farmers more constrained than males. A high awareness of mobile phones among smallholder farmers presents an opportunity to strengthen smallholder farmers’ market linkage. However constraints to the usage of mobile phones will need to be addressed. The study findings indicate priorities for policymakers dealing with the specifics of ICT adoption as a tool to promote rural viability via rationalization of Kenyan agricultural markets.

Download Full-text

The Role of ICT-Based Market Information Services in Spatial Food Market Integration

International Journal of ICT Research and Development in Africa ◽

10.4018/jictrda.2011010101 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 1-14 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Samson P. Katengeza ◽

Barnabas Kiiza ◽

Julius Juma Okello

Keyword(s):

Market Integration ◽

Quantitative Methods ◽

Information Service ◽

Information Services ◽

Agricultural Markets ◽

Spatial Integration ◽

Market Information ◽

Agricultural Commodity ◽

Service Project ◽

The Government

The government of Malawi in 2004 initiated an ICT-based Malawi Agricultural Commodity Exchange (MACE), a market information service project, to improve access by farmers to market information. MACE was intended to improve the efficiency of agricultural markets as part of the strategy to improve food security. This study uses quantitative methods to examine whether MACE has contributed to efficiency of rice markets in Malawi. It especially tests if MACE has contributed to spatial integration of rice markets. As hypothesized, the study finds that the tendency of rice prices to move together in spatially separated markets has significantly increased since the implementation of MACE. It concludes that ICT-based market information services project enhances linkages between markets and can therefore improve the efficiency with which agricultural markets perform. The study discusses implications of this finding for policy.

Download Full-text

Participation in ICT-based market information projects, smallholder farmers’ commercialisation, and agricultural income effects: findings from Kenya

Development in Practice ◽

10.1080/09614524.2020.1754340 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (8) ◽

pp. 1043-1057

Author(s):

Julius J. Okello ◽

Oliver K. Kirui ◽

Zachary M. Gitonga

Keyword(s):

Smallholder Farmers ◽

Market Information ◽

Income Effects ◽

Agricultural Income

Download Full-text

Stock Market Participation and the Internet

Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis ◽

10.1017/s0022109000002799 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 43 (1) ◽

pp. 191-211 ◽

Cited By ~ 82

Author(s):

Vicki Bogan

Keyword(s):

Panel Data ◽

Stock Market ◽

Transaction Costs ◽

Household Income ◽

The Internet ◽

Fundamental Change ◽

Participation Rates ◽

Market Participation ◽

The Past ◽

Stock Market Participation

AbstractTheory indicates that frictions (e. g., information and transaction costs) could account for the lower than expected stock market participation rates. This paper examines the hypothesis that there has been a fundamental change in participation and links this change to the reduction of these frictions by the advent of the Internet. Using panel data on household participation rates over the past decade, the results show computer/Internet using households raised participation substantially more than non-computer using households. The increased probability of participation was equivalent to having over $27,000 in additional household income or over two more mean years of education.

Download Full-text