9 till 13 th of March 2009. FARA Accra Ghana.Timely and accurate market information distributed systematically along agricultural supply chains is desperately lacking in many developing countries. It serves as the foundation for understanding market horizons, better decision-making, more secure transactions and better market linkages; all of these factors have been shown to increase market engagement and revenues for vulnerable low-income farmers.
Despite widespread acknowledgement that these information flows are essential to assist small producers, few approaches have been sustainable and effective. Market information systems have been difficult to maintain and develop, expensive to deploy in the field, rarely accurate, and often not targeted or accessible to the intended customer. Mobile networks have been leveraged for publishing, but rarely for low cost data sourcing or profiling. And no one has designed a revenue model that ensures widespread deployment.
To that end, TradeNet/Esoko will hold with support of FARA a partner conference in Accra, Ghana from March 9 – 13 (the last two days of the conference will be reserved for optional training workshops). The purpose of the conference will be to foster dialog and learning between partners, explore solutions to partners’ challenges with deployment, and conduct an in depth analysis of best practices. The conference will enable participants to share their experiences, ideas, issues, skills, models, etc. and gain a better sense of how to implement TradeNet/Esoko’s MIS successfully in their countries.
Background:
- This activity is a follow-up to FARA's Inventory on Innovative Farmer Advisory Services.
- Through deployment in numerous countries, Tradenet/Esoko recognizes that success constitutes 5% technology and 95% training and execution. They are particularly interested in building capacity and partnerships on projects and developing an established set of best practices that can be disseminated among numerous participating countries. Currently, Esoko software is being deployed in Afghanistan, Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar, Uganda, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, and Togo.
