We were to introduce ICTs to these ladies and gentlemen. This time also men and some youth were involved. (Unlike other previous interventions that involved only women farmers). The idea was to use mobile telephony to access markets in the region. But for the purpose of this training, we would use the main market in Gulu district. As we progressed deeper into the village the idea of even using more advanced ICTs become more and more remote.

The idea behind all  this concept was that once women are economically empowered, and there is increased income at the house level, enough necessities going round, trouble in the house would be less.  This would relate directly to the reduction of incidences of Gender Based Violence in communities.

“Gender in agriculture is not just a moral obligation; it is also an issue of growth and equity. If you put assets, capacity, resources, inputs, and technologies in the hands of women it has big implications for poverty reduction. If you address gender inequalities, you promote economic growth, food security, and child nutrition.”
Jemimah Njuki, Poverty, Gender and Impact Team Leader, ILRI in the New Agriculturist, March 2011

Workable solutions

Communities are very adaptive and responsive when novel ideas that relate directly to their livelihoods are introduced.  A blackboard placed at the Gulu main market place was going to be used, a mobile telephone placed within the community to link to the contact person at the market would enable the type of produce the farmer had, the amount and prices to be posted at this blackboard.  In addition, a partnership was sought with a local community radio station, for the farmers to be able to share their farming experiences with other members of the community. Therefore not only one ICT tool would work in isolation, but a combination of tools would be used to make this workable.

 “For Lanyero, this was something completely new, not workable at all!  Her interest kept on wavering as we explained. She wanted to be able to see her buyer, not some remote person or gadget telling her the price!  She had never touched a phone, how was she even going to learn the functionalities of a phone in a two days training? “

The challenges of introducing ICT projects in rural communities are diverse and interesting. They range from the interest of the communities to infrastructural challenges. Perceptions and attitudes are some of the most daunting challenges that community workers face, let alone the skills levels. But for how long would women like Lanyero be left behind in the technological advancements taking place in Agricultural sector?

“Uganda's economy is predominantly agrarian; 36% of the GDP, 81% of the employed labor force, and 31% of export earnings are derived from the agricultural sector. A total of 6,810,000 ha (16,828,000 acres), or one-third of the land area, is under cultivation. Subsistence production remains the pattern; 70% of the area under cultivation is used to produce locally consumed food crops. Women provide over half of agricultural labor, traditionally focusing on food rather than cash crop production.” http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Africa/Uganda-AGRICULTURE.html

So what about the markets and ICTs

Farmers need to know what the market demands in order to determine what, when and how much to produce. There is therefore need for access to information about prices, trends in the market and quality standards in order to capitalize on market opportunities, increase incomes and enhance food security.  The main constraint that women face is with travel and transportation to the markets. For her to travel, she needs money and time and this is at the expense of other reproductive household roles. For Lanyero’s case,  she would need to travel a whole day, to and from the market in order to sell !

So with this in mind, we started the basic training in the use of the mobile phones to access commodity prices. The atmosphere was tense with expectation, excitement of learning something new!  Some people had never touched a phone, with some giggling here and there we took it step by step. But they warned us, this should not be the only training, this has to continue! With that in mind, we understood that a one off training will not work, but this has to be linked to an improvement to the livelihood of these ladies.

This training with Farmer Field schools was conducted  in Amuru and Anaka sub counties in Northern Uganda, December/January 2011 in collaboration with FIT Uganda - Market information specialists with support under a pilot project  on Market Access using ICTs by Food and Agriculture Organisation-Uganda. The writer is Senior Programme Officer- WOUGNET