Regardless of the splendid statistics regarding smallholder farmers, the group has been/is vulnerable to exploitation. Amidst this cloud, how is improved productivity and profitability expected to be achieved? The Malawi government implemented several policies that were aimed at improving smallholder farmers’ access to the markets. Such interventions included price decontrol, market liberalization and restructuring of the country’s marketing board, the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC) (Tollen, 2006 and Phiri, 2006). However, in these policies little was done on the part of the farmers’ access to market information services. As a result there were more observable inefficiencies in both input and output markets. Some of these inefficiencies included: long chains of transaction between farmer and consumer; low incomes for farmers; higher costs to consumers; greater risk for traders; high transaction costs; high wastage and low competitiveness in Malawi (Tollen, 2006). This led to a market failure problem called information failure, consequently creating room for Information and Communication Technology (ICT)[1] to solve the problem. Now here its place is found, but of what importance is it to Malawi’s agricultural marketing?
To address the above question, I will give a case of woman tomato marketer whom I know and have interacted with. I follow her story from before ICTs usage to now when she uses what she calls he greatest companion( her mobile phone).
Stay on board with me as I bring her story in my next posting............
[1] One prominent project advocating for ICT development in Malawi is the Initiative for Development and Equity in African Agriculture (IDEAA).
