Mobile phones ? the new way of selling
Mobile phones ? the new way of selling Cue: The difficulty of selling their produce is one of the key problems that farmers face, particularly smallscale farmers. Many organisations are working to support their marketing, but what is the best strategy to help those farmers who may be unable to benefit from newspapers or internet-based information? In Tanzania, experience suggests that introducing mobile phones could be the best answer. Susuma Susuma of MVIWATA, the Network for Farmers? Groups in Tanzania, explains more to Lazarus Laiser. IN: ?We have introduced a marketing ? OUT: ? win for whatever they want.? DUR?N: 3?29? BACK ANNOUNCEMENT: Susuma Susuma of the Network for Farmers? Groups in Tanzania. The interview comes from a resource pack produced by CTA. Transcript Susuma We have introduced a marketing information centre in the villages whereby we supplied mobile phones to some of the farmers. They used those mobile phones to communicate with some people who are in the regional markets, business people who have a link with farmers in the village. Laiser How effective do you find the way? Susuma The system is still a new one. We have introduced this system in this year. The system is doing well but in other places we still have a problem. There are these middlemen who benefit from farmers. They try to break this system but we assist farmers so that they can manage to run this system. Laiser According to your experience so far, what are the feelings of the farmers about the system, using the mobile phones or internet or even brochures and all this kind of information technology to just access the market? Susuma Actually for farmers they are happy with the mobile phones because nowadays mobile phones are just, many farmers now they have mobile phones, so it is easier for farmers to communicate with themselves or to communicate with other people in town. Compared to internet, you know, our country is still poor. We have no internet service in villages, we have no electricity, we have no computer, and many farmers they don?t know English and many brochures, many magazines, many newspapers are in English language, so it is a problem for them. So they are more happy in using mobile phones compared to other means of communication. Laiser So using the mobile phones you connect the farmers to the buyers. How you do that? Susuma We connect the farmers with the buyers and farmers themselves they find buyers, they find markets, whereby they, after finding the markets they mobilise themselves. They hire a car, they pack their crops and they transport them to the big markets. Laiser Do the buyers have some kind of limitations, for example that you have to add value that I will buy your products, or this condition? Susuma Still there is a problem to our farmers. Many of them they sell their crops which are in low standard. We are struggling to educate them; we are struggling to help them so that they can get facilities which can help them to improve or to process their crops before taking them to the market. Laiser What advice do you have? So far you have been working with the farmers and connecting the farmers to the buyers and trying to make a good market for them. What is your advice to farmers themselves? Susuma My advice is I ask farmers to collaborate, the problem we have, farmers they got no? Laiser Unity Susuma They got no unity. That is why these middlemen they can do as they can because farmers they have no unity. My advice is, farmers they need to have unity so that they can win markets, so that they can win for whatever they want. End of track.
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| Format: | Audio biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
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Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
2008
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/57255 |
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