GSMA mAgri: Agricultural Value Added Services (Agri VAS): Market Entry Toolkit

Agricultural Value Added Services
(Agri VAS): Market Entry Toolkit
Authors: Amol Jadhav, Natalia Pshenichnaya
and Fiona Smith, GSMA mAgri Programme.

Contents

3—4 Introduction

5—9 Chapter 1 Market Opportunity

10—16 Chapter 2 Market Assessment and User Needs

17—21 Chapter 3 Marketing

22—30 Chapter 4 Service Design

31—38 Chapter 5 Commercial Model and
Business Case for Agri VAS

39 Glossary

GSMA — mAgri Programme 3
Market Entry Toolkit - Agri VAS

Introduction
The furious growth of mobile in developing countries, and
rural regions in particular, presents a landmark opportunity to
deliver critical, information-based agricultural services to rural
poor smallholder farmers. There are over 2.3 billion people
living in poverty and the majority earn their primary livelihood
from small farms in developing countries. The yields of these
farmers, especially those in sub-Saharan Africa, typically
represent a fifth of those in the developed world. There is a raft
of reasons for this, one of which is a lack of access to relevant
and actionable agricultural information. Yet this problem is
eminently superable. The right information, absorbed and
applied correctly, can double or triple productivity in many
of these households. Mobile is the leapfrog technology that
allows us to complement existing extension efforts by stepping
up and meeting this information need.

About the Authors
This document was written by members of the GSMA mAgri Programme. The GSM
Association represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide and within this,
the GSMA Development Fund works to identify opportunities in emerging markets
for social, economic and environmental impact through mobile services.

In partnership with USAID and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) the
GSMA has recently launched the mFarmer Initiative to support mobile operators and
agricultural partners in Sub-Saharan Africa and India in creating commercially viable
and scalable mobile information services to benefit over 2 million smallholder
farmers. For more information on the initiative and challenge fund please contact
mfarmer@gsm.org


There are no hard and fast rules to follow Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and
when building an Agricultural Value Added Agriculture Organisation Partnerships:
Service (Agri VAS).1 This document does MNOs face the task of growing average
not provide a blueprint, nor act as a guarantor revenue per user (ARPU) and market share
of success. Those Agri VAS deployments in rural areas. In a congested marketplace,
that have achieved success have often done they seek to find ways to differentiate within
so through clever adaptation to their a commoditised industry. Agricultural
environment. Replicating them elsewhere extension organisations face the challenge of
would be to remove a crucial piece of the servicing geographically dispersed farmers
jigsaw. However, from the GSMA mAgri while lacking scalable service infrastructure.
Programme’s involvement in Agri VAS
deployments in Asia and Africa, and from The challenges, therefore, that MNOs and
market research on best practice amongst agricultural extension organisations face are
existing service providers, it is possible to complimentary in nature. Agricultural
discern similarities in the challenges faced, and organisations can help MNOs differentiate by
responses to those challenges, from which we targeting rural farmers with their services,
can learn. This document represents augmenting their relevance, attraction and
current best practice in dealing with them and quality. MNOs can help agricultural
is primarily addressed to Mobile Network organisations rapidly scale services and reach
Operators (MNOs), other service providers, distant farmers via their network and
and agricultural organisations who are looking distribution infrastructure. This forms the
to partner and launch Agri VAS. basics of a partnership model for Agri VAS.

A significant trend is the complimentary The purpose of this document is to help key
benefits emerging from partnership models. players recognise, understand - and act upon
Due to the scalability and reach of mobile - the opportunities in the mobile agriculture
networks, partnership models are emerging sector. We begin by defining the sheer size of
between mobile operators and agriculture this market.
organisations in developing mobile solutions
for agriculture. Fiona Smith | Director, GSMA Development
Fund mAgri Programme.

Agricultural Value Added Services form part of the rural VAS portfolio
for mobile network operators and VAS providers. A Value Added
Service is a non-core service of a mobile operator. The term can be
used to refer to all services beyond standard voice-calls. VAS are
supplied either in-house by the MNO themselves, or by a third party
VAS provider.


Chapter 1
Market Opportunity
Agricultural Value Added Services (Agri VAS) present a
considerable business opportunity due to the enormous potential
user base in developing countries. The farming sector in these
countries often suffers from chronically low productivity. Lack of
information acts upon productivity and income levels like a glass
ceiling. However, with increasing teledensity in the developing
world, the mobile channel is uniquely positioned to address the
information needs of farmers – an intervention that can help
increase their income and yield. By delivering relevant, actionable
content, providers of mobile services for agriculture can offer
a valuable and sustainable product.
In order to appreciate fully the business opportunity for Agri VAS,
it’s important to identify certain key variables in the market place
– typically mobile penetration levels, user base and agricultural
productivity trends.

GSMA — mAgri Programme Chapter 1 6
Market Entry Toolkit - Agri VAS Market Opportunity

The Potential User Base for Agri VAS
It’s important to understand the sheer size India work in agriculture – this forms 52%
of the agricultural sector in the target markets of India’s work force. In Sub-Saharan Africa,
(Figure 1.1). In developing countries the the agricultural sector is the largest employer
majority of the labour force works in the too. In many of the African countries, over 80%
agricultural sector. This population of the work force is employed here – and a
constitutes the potential user base for significant proportion of these are women.
Agri VAS. Almost 250 million people in

Figure 1.1: Agricultural Sector Size

15% 32%
24%

49% 51% 44%

85%
32%
68%

GDP – Ethiopia Labour Force – Ethiopia
Agriculture Industry Agricultural Labour Force GDP – Ghana Labour Force – Ghana
Other Industries Other Labour Force Agriculture Industry Other Labour Force
GDP (Purchasing Power Parity): Labour Force in Agriculture: Other Industries Female Agricultural Workers
$85.71 Billion 33.96 Million Workers
GDP (Purchasing Power Parity): Male Agricultural Workers
$39.64 Billion
Labour Force in Agriculture:
6.13 Million Workers

18%
23%

11%
25%

48%
52%

64%

82% 77%

GDP – India Labour Force – India GDP – Kenya Labour Force – Kenya
Agriculture Industry Agricultural Labour Force Agriculture Industry Other Labour Force
Other Industries Other Labour Force Other Industries Female Agricultural Workers
GDP (Purchasing Power Parity): Labour Force in Agriculture: GDP (Purchasing Power Parity): Male Agricultural Workers
$4.20 Trillion 237.88 Million Workers $66.22 Billion
Labour Force in Agriculture:
14.03 Million Workers

Source: The World Bank and CIA The World Factbook


31%
10%
20% 37%
34%
43%

56% 63% 37%
69%

GDP – Malawi Labour Force – Malawi GDP – Mali Labour Force – Mali
Agriculture Industry Other Labour Force Agriculture Industry Other Labour Force
Other Industries Female Agricultural Workers Other Industries Female Agricultural Workers
GDP (Purchasing Power Parity): Male Agricultural Workers GDP (Purchasing Power Parity): Male Agricultural Workers
$13.05 Billion $16.24 Billion
Labour Force in Agriculture: Labour Force in Agriculture:
5.68 Million Workers 3.02 Million Workers

31%
33%
19% 22%
30%

42%

39%
69% 67% 48%

GDP – Mozambique Labour Force – Mozambique GDP – Nigeria Labour Force – Nigeria



29%
10% 34%
20%
27% 24%

63%
66% 56%
71%

GDP – Rwanda Labour Force – Rwanda GDP – Tanzania Labour Force – Tanzania

22%
25%

18% 16% 15%
27%

55% 69%
75%
78%

GDP – Uganda Labour Force – Uganda GDP – Zambia Labour Force – Zambia


The Growth of Mobile
However, despite the enormous number of Access to mobile phones is growing
people working in agriculture, productivity dramatically in developing countries, especially
from this sector is disproportionally low. It is in rural areas. Since most urban areas are
not unusual for outputs to be two thirds lower approaching or have surpassed 100%
than those in developed economies. Often, teledensity, it is the remote rural regions that
the figures are lower even than this. A raft represent the largest untapped market of
of sub-Saharan countries regularly produces potential users. Mobile network operators
yields that are 80% smaller than those in are addressing this and rural penetration rates
the USA and UK (Figure 1.2). Given that are climbing very quickly. Estimates of total
agriculture accounts for around 30% of a subscriptions in the developing world now
typical sub-Saharan countries’ GDP, the scope exceed 4 billion and with shared access almost
for exponential GDP growth due to optimised every poor person on the planet can tap the
farming practices is significant. benefits of these networks. In Ghana, for
instance, the overall mobile penetration reached
2 GSMA Wireless International 78% by the third quarter of 2011.2


Figure 1.2: Cereal Productivity Gap
7,500

7,000

6,500

6,000
Cereal Yeald (kg per Hectare of Harvested Land)

5,500

5,000

4,500

4,000

3,500

3,000

2,500

2,000

1,500

1,000

500

0
Ethiopia

Ghana

India

Kenya

Malawi

Mali

Mozambique

Nigeria

Rwanda

Tanzania

Uganda

Zambia

UK

USA

China
Data Source: World Bank

Figure 1.3: Market Potential for Agri VAS.

Rwanda
Uganda
100% Mozambique
Tanzania

Ethiopia
Proportion of Workforce in Agriculture

80%

Nigeria
Malawi
Zambia Mali
60%
Kenya
Ghana
40%
l
tia
ten
r Po VAS
20% he gri
Hig for A
Bubble Size = Farming Population

0%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
Rural Mobile Penetration

Indeed, in the race to gain market share among reliable agricultural information for agrarian
rural subscribers, the pricing wars have largely workers. Analysis can be conducted to
been played out and operators are increasingly understand the potential market size for an
turning to other, more innovative ways to Agri VAS. In figure 1.3, the size of the bubble
differentiate themselves from their competitors. depicts the farming population plotted against
Agri VAS presents a compelling opportunity the percentile proportion of workforce in
to meet this need. agriculture (Y axis) and the rural mobile
penetration (X axis).
The ubiquity of mobile phones means that
they are ideally placed to act as information
channels for farmers. Mobile services, in many
instances, are the first and only source of


Chapter 2
Market Assessment
and User Needs
The framework below outlines the components to consider when designing an Agri
VAS, from understanding the customer at the outset (Ch. 2), marketing the service
(Ch. 3), service design (Ch. 4) and finally, the underlying business model (Ch. 5).

Market
Assessment
User Needs
Socio-Cultural- Agricultural
Economic Factors Cycle

Marketing
Understanding Reaching the
the Customer Customer

Hi...

Service
Design
Designing for Formats Content
Customer Needs and Channels Process

Commercial
Model $
Business
Case Revenue Streams CAPEX/OPEX

Market Entry Toolkit - Agri VAS Market Assessments and User Needs

Consumer Market Segments
At the design stage of any new product Market segmentation is vital to understand the
or service, it is critical to understand the various categories of consumers in the target
user’s needs and to identify the unique market, and ensuring the product or service is
demographics that exist within the target relevant to them. For rural smallholder farmers,
market. This is especially crucial for Agri it may be most useful to focus segmentation on
VAS as base of pyramid users tend not to agro-ecological zones, crop, language, gender,
be surveyed extensively. The danger posed and attitude (especially proclivity to change).
by a lack of understanding of the target
market is significant and can make or break a 1. Language/Culture
deployment, leading to products and services The boundaries of a language and a region’s
that serve no immediate user requirement; geo-political boundaries are often one and
a solution in search of a problem. We advise the same. However, this is not the case
prospective service providers to focus their everywhere and care must be taken to
efforts on the following key activities. identify the language(s) spoken in a market
segment during the service’s design phase.
Consumer Market Segments Segmentation
1. The service must be delivered in the local
of the market is a crucial keystone of product language and provide information relevant to
design. Each demarcation may well have that geography’s agro-climatic characteristics,
unique problems and needs. Identifying which determine the crops that can be grown
these is a logical first step. there. Cultures in different geographies may
2. Market Research Once segmentation has well focus on specific types of crop or have
occurred, methodical market research and developed specialised methods of cultivating
analysis need to be conducted for each. them. Knowing these local traditions is a
3. Agriculture Cycle Consideration should be prerequisite for making information services
given to the fact that a farmer’s activities are pertinent and actionable.
almost entirely governed by the overarching
super-structure of the agricultural cycle. 2. Agro-ecological Zone
At different points in this cycle (planning, In larger territories, a market segment may
planting, growing, harvesting or selling) straddle more than one agro-ecological zone.
the farmer will have a uniquely different set These zones present a unique set of challenges
of information needs. The Agri VAS must to a farmer and it is not uncommon for a maize
fulfil these. cultivation technique to work well in one zone
and fail in another. Even if the market segment
inhabits a single zone, care must be taken to
ensure that the service designers are aware
of the information needs specific to that zone.
This will be of particular importance where
content generation is concerned.


3. Gender assistance of others. Adopts new techniques
To promote equal access and utility to both after others have proved they work.
genders, it is important to understand the 3. Independents Generally savvy, open to new
perceptions of gender and the role that they information but not particularly engaged
play in agricultural activities. It is a fact that the with farming. Will follow best practice
greater proportion of agricultural labour falls to but would never try new methods by
women, and yet, women tend to earn less than themselves.
their male counterparts and, generally, have 4. rustrated Escapist Trying to make the best
F
less control over the business decisions taken fist of farming but would change jobs if the
on the farm. This divide remains significant 3, opportunity arose.
although indications in Bangladesh suggest4
5. Traditionalist Enjoys farming but does not
it is closing there, at least, as populations
seek out new methods and is resistant to
of male migrant workers move around the
change.
country leaving womenfolk at the helm of the
agrarian businesses. The same phenomenon 6. Trapped Does not enjoy farming and sees no
occurs when male workers decamp to urban future it. Hopes children do not have to farm
areas in search of jobs. as a career.

Gender and cultural sensitivities should be For example, by identifying attitudinal
borne in mind during the design, content segments, marketing agents can target initial
generation and marketing phases of a product messages on ‘Competent Optimists’ with
launch. Grameen Foundation found, through the aim of getting them to influence the
their Community Knowledge Worker (CKW) ‘Contented Dependents’ and ‘Independents’.
Initiative in Uganda, that female farmers were Agents can avoid wasting time and resources
much more receptive to receiving assistance targeting ‘Traditionalists’ or the ‘Trapped’
from female CKWs. This new information was until the service reaches critical mass, and the
obviously extremely valuable to them in their new technique(s) attain orthodoxy. As usage
efforts to make the CKW programme equally matures across each segment, marketing
accessible and useful to both genders. messages can be adapted, and made more
efficient. Though attitudinal segmentation –
4. Attitudinal Factors by nature – is a complex task, the following
steps seem to represent a logical approach:
Psychological or attitudinal segmentation deals
with identifying groups of farmers who share 1. Scope Survey a sample population to identify
similar attitudes towards farming and external psychological/attitudinal segment members.
interventions. Understanding and identifying 2. Segment Segment identifiers can be
attitudinal segments can provide powerful uncovered by finding common traits/
insights into how marketing messages should characteristics (Contented Optimists,
be customised to maximise impact. or, from a marketing perspective ‘early
adopters’, tend to focus on cash crops while
A recent study 5 by TNS Research International Traditionalists focus on staple crops).
in Tanzania shed valuable light upon the make- 3. Assign These identifiers can then be used
up of that country’s agrarian market as well as more broadly and applied to segment the
offering useful attitudinal demarcations entire population (ie. we can assume that
within it. those who focus on cash crops can be
grouped as early adopters while staple
Their findings suggest six broad distinctions crop farmers are Traditionalists).
within the mind-sets of farmers, ranging from
4. Correlate Map these findings against
‘Competent Optimists’, to, at the opposite end
other indicators such as region or district.
of the scale, those who are ‘Trapped’ in farming
For instance, the TNS RI study discovered
and wish to leave.
that 47% of farmers in the Iringa region
of Tanzania were Competent Optimists
We summarise their categorisations below, ,
(suggesting a high uptake of a new product
however it must be noted that these segments
or idea) whereas in Singida only 7% were
are not wholly distinct from one another and
Competent Optimists and 34% were
there will be some overlap:
Traditionalists (suggesting a correspondingly
3 Food and Agriculture Organisation of

1. Competent Optimists Seeks information low uptake). By cross-referencing the
the UN http://www.fao.org/sd/fsdirect/ and networks well with others. Enjoys segments in this way, a valuable picture
fbdirect/FSP001.htm
4 Innovations in Rural Extension: Case

farming, is open to new techniques and begins to emerge which will inform
Studies in Bangladesh, CABI Publishing, quick to try them out. decisions about which areas to focus on
April 2005
5 Listening to the Farmer Voice:
2. Contented Dependents Has a very positive when promoting the service to ensure
Overlaying macro-segmentation with attitude towards farming but needs the maximum uptake.
micro-level data on farmer needs and
attitudes. – TNS Research International,
March 2011.


Market Research when designing and marketing new services.
Once the market has been segmented using Radio programmes, newspapers, oral tradition,
the parameters outlined above, systematic extension workers and word of mouth are
research must be conducted in order to some of the typical information vehicles for
understand the users’ activities and needs. remote, rural farmers.
When conducting the research, care should
be taken to cross-tag each data set according Usage Case If the farming community knows
to the attitudinal segments identified during and trusts particular radio programmes,
the initial segmentation process. it makes sense to partner with the radio
show producers and leverage them as a
Our research and findings suggest focusing delivery channel for Agri VAS. Furthermore,
on the following key components:6 complementing existing communications
channels with up-to-date agricultural
1. Crop Types and Varieties information is an efficient way to fill the
knowledge gap. This partnership can also play
Understanding the agriculture focus and crop a role in marketing the Agri VAS and earning
varieties grown (along with their associated the faith and loyalty of the target market.
seasons) will help determine which information
services to provide. 4. Finances
Usage Case It may be useful first to select Many rural smallholder farmers are both poor
crops that the project team has the most data and caught up in the poverty cycle. Thus,
and experience working with. Then, from they may have an ultra-low (or non-existent)
these crops, further prioritise based on willingness to pay for Agri VAS. Efforts
their prevalence within the target market. should be made to investigate their income
Alternatively, start with a select few crops sources and spending behaviours. A lot more
and develop deeply impactful, successful work needs to be carried out to understand
information services on those crops before the farmers’ ability or willingness to pay for
growing the service portfolio by introducing particular products and services. However,
additional crops as time and expertise allow. limited-scope market surveys that we have
seen suggest that farmers are willing to pay for
2. Farming Techniques information they deem to be relevant, helpful
and actionable, for example agri-specific,
Specific farming techniques vary by farming localised weather forecasts that could impact
culture, crop type and agro-ecological zone. growth or yield during the farming cycle.
It is important to understand farming
communities’ existing in order to identify Usage Case In the likely event that some target
areas for improvement. farmers (poor rural smallholders) will be
unwilling and unable to pay for an Agri VAS,
Usage Case If a community already benefits it will be incumbent on the service provider
from a specialised, unique method of pest to secure revenue from other sources, namely
control that is proven and effective, advising other actors in the agricultural value chain
them on alternative pesticides available on who benefit from farmers having access to the
the market may not be seen as useful. In this Agri VAS. These alternative revenue streams
case, it may be preferable to work with local can come from MFIs and insurers who wish
organisations to learn their methods and to penetrate and transact business in the rural
incorporate them in the content management markets, contract farming companies who
system for Agri VAS. The storehouse of global want to increase the reach and quality of their
agricultural knowledge is still growing and a extension services, as well as input suppliers/
successful Agri VAS will seek to broaden its dealers. Further details on these B2B revenue
own knowledge as well as disseminate it. models can be found in Chapter 5.
These new learnings can then be shared with
other farming communities who face similar
pest problems.
6 Although this document
focuses mainly on crop farming, 3. Existing Information Sources
it is important to conduct market
There is usually a complex web of information
research on other agricultural
practices including livestock, service providers available to farmers although
fisheries and agro-forestry. the degree to which farmers have access to this
information will vary. Understanding what
More detailed information on sources of information your target farmers are
farming practices, agriculture currently using and forming partnerships with
extension and the agriculture
life cycle is available at http://
other information service providers can help
www.g-fras.org/en/ or http://
www.meas-extension.org/home/


Packaging,
Harvesting Storing
Transport

5. Gender
Any Agri VAS targeting rural smallholder
Growing Crop Selling Planting
farmers in less developed countries must be Planning and Growing
proactive in catering to the female populations.
Indeed, due to the inescapable fact that the
majority of farm work is undertaken by women
and that women are slowly assuming more Before the farmers begin to plant crops, they
control over farming decisions, understanding
Market must first decide which crops to grow in this
Information
their cultural environment and information cycle. In order to make this decision, a farmer
Planting Planning
and Access
needs is crucial. must consider a range of factors including the
demand and market price of specific crops,
Successful Agri VAS must: the cost of that crops‘ inputs, seasonal weather
expectations and other crops to be grown on
■■ arry out marketing/sales campaigns
C
the same plot.
specifically targeting women. Inputs
■■ D
esign aspects of the service specifically
Packaging,
Access to finance can also play a vital role
Harvesting Storing
for the agriculture roles and functions most
Transport in crop planning. Farmers caught up in the
women typically play. poverty cycle lack proper resources to invest
■■ E
nsure face-to-face interaction with women in quality inputs, thereby affecting long-term
(by outreach workers, distributors or field
Farming planning and reducing yields, productivity
agents) is conducted sensitively and in
Advisory and ultimately income. This cascades into next
accordance with local custom.
Growing year’s crop planning and continues the cycle.
Selling

Women do the majority of food production,
processing and preparation in developing
nations. Although women produce 60-80% Financial
Services
of the food in the developing world, they earn
Crop Planning
Planting Planting Harvesting
22% less than their male counterparts, have
Planning and Growing and Selling
less access to resources and receive only 5%
of extension services.7 These facts highlight a
clear failure in the market to provide Agri VAS
where they are needed most. Once the land has been prepared and inputs
Market Weather sourced, the farmer plants his/her seeds or
Information
seedlings and begins monitoring and caring for
The Agricultural
and Access Cycle the crop. If plants encounter any disease or pest
The need for agricultural and marketing infestation the farmer must quickly diagnose
information amongst rural and farmer the problem and implement an appropriate
communities is part of a broader need for solution before the crop is lost. At this stage,
diverse information including health, natural assistance with pest or phytopathology issues is
Inputs
resource management, and community services required, along with an understanding of which
information as off-farm income activities are pesticide to use and how and where to go about
often integrated with farm production. sourcing them.

The information needs of farmers are
diverse due to the fact that mono-cropping is
Farming
uncommon amongst smallholders. In order to
Advisory
make best use of their resources available and
Crop Planting Harvesting
minimize risk, farmers tend to diversify by
planting multiple crops and keeping livestock.

Farmers’ needs are governed by their progress
Financial When crops are ready for harvesting, farmers
Market through the agricultural cycle and change
Services
decide where, with whom and how to sell
Information over the course of the year. It’s important to their crops. In order to reach a successful sale,
and Access understand that the cycle is dependent upon the farmer will require access to accurate,
local growing seasons and will therefore vary up-to-date market prices to make the best
from region to region. Consequently, although decision possible for the business. Issues of
the focus areas we suggest below are broadly transportation may also arise which a well-
typical, their implementation period may well
Weather
designed Agri VAS should bear in mind.
Inputs vary by agro-ecology zone. Information about storage procedures and
costing are also in demand.

7 Food and Agriculture Organisation of

the UN http://www.fao.org/sd/fsdirect/
fbdirect/FSP001.htm
Farming
Advisory


Information Needs During the Agricultural Cycle
The following chart lists examples of possible information topics farmers may need at each stage
of the crop agriculture cycle.

Packaging,
Harvesting Storing
Transport

Growing Selling

Planting Planning

Crop Planting Harvesting

Market
Information
and Access


Planning Planting and Growing Harvesting,
Post Harvesting and Selling
- Accurate and competitive
- Expected crop demand. market pricing.
Market - Potential price fluctuations. - Potential price fluctuations.
Information - Cost and availability of - Cost and availability
and Access transport of inputs. of transport to market.
- Market contacts. - Marketing, sales or
negotiation tips.

- Seeds/fertiliser availability, - Pesticides. - Availability, cost and location
prices and location. of storage services.
Inputs - Instruction for self-storage.

- Crop and seed selection. - Techniques to protect - What is the best time and
- Land preparation. against and prevent method of harvesting.
Farming disease and pest infestation.
Advisory - Diagnose and treat disease
and pest infestation.

- Loans and insurance - Loan availability - Savings account rates
availability, rates and rates for and availability.
Financial and contacts. non-farming activities.
Services

- Long term - Short-term weather - Weather forecast and
weather forecast. forecast. For example, implication for storage.
Weather - Implication of local to know when to plant.
agro-environment.

Collecting the Data
Typical methods for developing this Collecting this information can be quite
market intelligence include surveying challenging and at times (depending on your
sample populations in the field, organising level of resources) impractical. Working with
focus groups and desk-bound research agriculture organisations or NGOs who already
of the demographic. have data in these areas or have the capacity to
conduct extensive field research and sampling
can help to expedite this process.


Chapter 3
Marketing

Customer
Socio-Cultural- Agricultural
Economic Factors Cycle

Marketing
Understanding Reaching the
the Customer Customer

Service
Design
Designing for Formats Content
Customer Needs and Channels Process

Business $
Model
Revenue Streams CAPEX/OPEX

Market Entry Toolkit - Agri VAS Marketing

When introducing new products and services, ■■ Q
ualitative research (backed up by
the role of marketing is twofold and serves to: quantitative data) should provide the basis
1.
Understand the consumer and their for customer segmentation; information
changing information needs (continuously needs mapping, language preference, level
incorporating new insight into the of technical capability, channels, formats
marketing strategy and service design). and frequency of information delivery.
2.
Drive consumer demand through advertising, ■■ W
hat are the on-going methods of
sales and optimised distribution. collecting the information on customer
needs? How will the customer feedback
This section briefly reviews consumer needs be incorporated to make sure that changing
and then examines the marketing process in information needs are reflected within
more depth. the service design?

Understanding the Customer Reaching the Customer
A thorough understanding of the consumer’s The Customer Journey
unmet needs and requirements is critical to
The complexity of the adoption process
designing relevant products and services.
(along with the requisite tools and methods
of facilitation) can be mapped out with the
Some things to consider before embarking
help of a customer journey framework. Based
on designing the service and marketing
on findings from GSMA experience with
campaigns include:
Agri VAS deployments in Kenya and India,
■■ A
re there potential partner organisations and from research conducted on current best
with on-the ground expertise that can practice in mobile for agriculture space, this
provide insights into customer behaviour framework provides a simplified tool for
and help to shape the marketing strategy? structuring a marketing strategy for Agri VAS:

The Customer Journey

Aware Understand Try Regular Use

Low Media Consumption. Communicate: Modify Consumer Engage Users.
Challenge

■ ■ ■ ■
■ Illiteracy, Language etc. ‘What’, ‘How’, ‘Why’ Behaviour. ■ Personalise Service.
■ Low Distribution Reach. of Agricultural VAS. ■ Gain Trust. ■ Address Broader Needs.

■ Existing Brand Equity. ■ Simple Procedures. ■ Cost of Trial. ■ User Profiling.
Focus

■ Local Media. ■ Face-to-Face. ■ Accessibility. ■ Service Rendering.
■ Local Events/Meets. ■ Align Incentives to ■ Comparative Benefits. ■ Complimentary Needs.
■ Agricultural Cycle. Communication. ■ Innovation Access.
Above-the-Line Below-the-line Experiential Experiential Direct
■ Posters. ■ Partner Agents. ■ Discounted Trials. ■ Free (push) Information Messages.
Marketing Tactics

■ Radio TV Spots. ■ Canopy Events. ■ Agricultural Cycle ■ Interactivity.
■ Mobile Van Promos. ■ Experts. Based Trials. ■ Feedback Drives.
■ Village Events. ■ Peers/Family.
■ Agricultural Events.

Leverage Partner Networks

Align Planning and Execution with Agricultural Cycle

Following the steps of the customer from
“unawareness” to “regular use” helps
identify and understand bottlenecks within
the adoption process. Each bottleneck needs
to be addressed with relevant marketing
activities designed to bring the customer
to the next stage.

Examples of poster campaigns by M-Kilimo (Kenya) and IKSL (India)

Market Entry Toolkit - Agri VAS Marketing

A. Awareness phase the product and influence adjacent segments,
Any proposed Agri VAS is likely to constitute gaining crucial market penetration. For the
a new concept to target consumers. Therefore, service’s value proposition to be clearly
expect initial awareness of the brand or value communicated, it is vital to have field agents
proposition to be extremely low. Further who can demonstrate the product in action.
complicating the awareness stage are the low These are (relatively) more costly as they rely
levels of media consumption and literacy upon face-to-face interaction and therefore
rates in rural areas, making print advertising require a trained sales force of mobile field
ineffective or redundant. staff. However, they have proved to be much
more effective at successfully explaining the
Things to consider in the awareness product to new customers and demonstrating
phase include: its value than traditional channels.
■■ D
oes the service have a strong, relevant,
It may be useful to explore partnerships with
memorable brand that is sensitive to the
existing networks of field extension workers.
local culture and aesthetics of the target
An agricultural organisation, network of
market? We know of at least one Agri
cooperatives or an NGO may have existing
VAS whose visual marketing had to be
channels of communication to farming
‘translated’ from developed world-designed
communities which already benefit from high
collateral into something more adapted
levels of access and trust with the audience
for the visual traditions of its target
and can be leveraged for such campaigns.
audience after an initial rejection of its
A more thorough understanding of a product’s
advertising campaign.
workings and value will also prevent customer
■■ L
everaging the existing brand of the churn and in this sense, experiential activity is
MNO or agricultural partner organisations good not only for customer acquisition but also
in rural areas may allow the service to for repeated usage.
build awareness and establish credibility
in a swift, cost-efficient way, providing
the MNO’s brand is well-received in
that community.
■■ H
ow will the brand be visible to
consumers? For regions with low literacy
levels, these advertising messages need
to be intuitively understood and should
not be dependent purely upon text.
Rather, image-based marketing channels
should focus on trying to capture the value
proposition of the product in simple, visual
terms using people who are representative
of the target market.
■■ R
adio normally has the highest penetration
rate among available media channels.
Explore the possibility of collaborating
with existing agriculture-related radio
programmes to reduce the cost of airtime
and optimise efficacy.

B. Understand Phase
Moving customers from awareness of the
service to understanding the value proposition Canopy marketing activity undertaken by IKSL field agent to local farmers.

of the service is a complicated process and
one best served, we find, by using experiential
marketing techniques.

Attitudinal segmentation suggests that only a
minority of any given market have a proclivity
to take up new techniques and ideas. These
people then become powerful exponents of

GSMA mAgri: Agricultural Value Added Services (Agri VAS): Market Entry Toolkit

GSMA mAgri: Agricultural Value Added Services (Agri VAS): Market Entry Toolkit

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to GSMA mAgri: Agricultural Value Added Services (Agri VAS): Market Entry Toolkit

Similar to GSMA mAgri: Agricultural Value Added Services (Agri VAS): Market Entry Toolkit (20)

More from GSMA Mobile for Development

More from GSMA Mobile for Development (18)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

GSMA mAgri: Agricultural Value Added Services (Agri VAS): Market Entry Toolkit