[AfrICANN-discuss] Fwd: [Togo-L] AG: E-Agriculture for Togolese Farmers (Highway Africa News Agency)

[Mawaki Chango]

Hi,
I though the following is probably of interest to some of us.
There was/is a similar project in Senegal with MANOBI if my
memory serves me. Have they developed since, and spread to other
countries?

Mawaki


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E-Agriculture for Togolese Farmers

Highway Africa News Agency (Grahamstown)

NEWS
3 September 2007
By Noel Kokou Tadégnon
Geneva

A 'Center for Commercial and Agricultural Information' (PICA)
for the
collection and the publication of price lists via the internet
has been
launched in Togo to enable farmers and traders to interact over
prices
and availability of products.of the products by ICT

The center is equipped with computer and Internet facilities
with a web
page with a strong integration of data and mobile technology.

The center will allow producers and tradesmen to consult in real
time
over price lists that are in conformity with the ECOWAS region.

Farmers will also consult over business opportunities in the
area -the
availability of products and stocks - in short farmers and
traders will
be able to conclude commercial transactions with partners from
West
Africa and other destinations.

The platform is also equipped with a system that makes it
possible to
send SMSees to producers, to salesmen and to purchasers.

The center will also equip farmers with packages to receive free
information on mobile phones on the prices of 400 agricultural
producers
of the regional markets in West Africa, that is Benign, Burkina
Faso,
Cap Verde, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia,
Mali,
Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Togo.

Dété Yachina, the webmaster of the www.tradenet. biz explained
that in
fact , people will know at home or their fields how much a
product costs
and where to get it if not available in one's country.

"Via this facility, one will seek the market where one can find
it and
where one can better sell, by selling their products, one has
enough
money and that can contribute to the improvement of our living
conditions" said Denis Mbadia chair regional Rooms of
agriculture of
Togo

"The project has placed at our disposal an electronic facility
to break
down information concerning the agricultural produce and to seek
markets
abroad, we received formations on the use of the machines and
the
setting on line of information" , said Akouété Foly chair
grouping of the
market-gardeners farmers of south Togo.

Denis Mbadia said that the project will contribute to the
promotion of
the agricultural sector of Togo and will promote research of
markets
where to sell products.

"For having produced, it is necessary to sell and monetarized
its
production and the market should be sought", explained Mbadia.

This project is supported by the regional network of information
systems
of market and agricultural trade in West Africa (MISTOWA)
www.mistowa. org and its aims are to increase regional
agricultural trade
and food security by improving and linking the existing regional
efforts
to generate, disseminate, and make commercial use of market
information.

The center will also help the regional networks of Market
Information
Systems (MIS) and trade partners to address other constraints,
so that
strong and dynamic commodity chains emerge that will use the
information
to enhance production, handling, credit, and trade; and value
added
services such as post-harvest, processing, packaging, and
quality
control.

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