This document summarizes discussions from a focus group on ICT in agricultural trade in East Africa. It outlines how ICT can help smallholder farmers through farm management tools, financial services, market information services, and trade support. Challenges to ICT adoption in agriculture include a lack of reliable data, literacy and language barriers, and connectivity issues in remote areas. Opportunities lie in leveraging existing mobile technologies and platforms to connect farmers. Addressing data availability and encouraging collaboration among solution providers could help overcome challenges to ICT driving better prices, trade, and farming practices for smallholder farmers.

1. ICT in Agricultural Trade
Summary of focus group delibera9ons
Presented at the East Africa Staples Trade Dialogue

2. ICT is about solu9ons for:
• * Focus on small holder farmer
• Enabling
• Enhancing
• Management tool

3. Classifica9on of ICTs in Ag
• Farm/produc+on management - Warehousing, logis9cs, supply chain e.g. mFarms
• Financial Services/FinTech
- Credit e.g MoDE
- Insurance e.g. acreafrica
• Informa+on services
- Market informa9on - prices, availability, loca9on, market linkages e.g. RATIN, E-Soko,
eGranary
- Capac9ty/learning - techniques & prac9ces, weather
• Trade support
- Exchange services e.g. EAX
- Online markets (Buy/sell transac9ons) e.g. G-Soko, eGranary

4. Challenges for ICT in Ag
• Lack of (reliable, structured) data - about farmers, produc9on, market
- Enable access to credit and services / Access to farmers as customers
- A lot of informal trade, informa9on flows are outside the view of ICT
systems esp. for staples
• Literacy/language barriers - use of video/mul9media?
• Farmers cost sensi+vity - sustainability?
• Duplica+on of ini+a+ves – confusing the farmer
• Valida+ng the transac+on - trade
• Remote areas that do not have connec+vity

5. Opportuni9es for ICT impact in Ag Trade
• Mobile – 95% of the market is pre-paid enabling providers like
MoDe
• Cheaper smart device / internet-capable devices
• Increasing cross border trade

6. Benefits of ICTs in Ag
• Extend credit – for produc9on, trade
• Extend educa+onal, informa+onal content - beer farming
prac9ces e.g post-harvest
• More trade - beer prices for farmers

7. Way forward/lessons
• There is a lot of technology that already exists that can be leveraged for agriculture - don’t
have to re-invent the wheel e.g. mobile. Leverage this and apply to problems in ag.
• There’s an opportunity in plaJorms that network farmers together / aggregate them in
one way or another
• Government - Policy environment, formalize trade e.g. incen9vize farmers to use formal
channels
• Data and informa+on availability needs to be solved - esp. on farmers and on produc9on
• Need for collabora+on, data sharing among solu9on providers - mul9ple similar providers,
duplica9on.