IICD supported project: Agricultural Price and Business Information Services

Countries: Tanzania [TZ]
Sectors: livelihood

Summary

For years, Tanzania’s farmers have had to rely on their own resources, receiving little or no outside assistance, especially when it comes to finding information. This is because markets are fragmented and the country’s agricultural sector has virtually no institutional infrastructure; one of the side-effects of the government’s longstanding policy of liberalisation and non-intervention. Accessing vital information on crop prices, market trends, and trade flows is therefore impossible for most farmers, especially those living in remote areas. Consequently, their decision-making abilities are seriously impaired which inhibits their earning potential. The Agricultural Price and Business Information Services (BIS) project aims to change all this. Set up with support from IICD in 2001 by Business Information Services, a local consultancy firm, it has been using ICTs for the last four years to compile, analyse and store urgently needed agricultural data and then pass it on to the farmers quickly and efficiently, as and when they need it.

Update

Updated: 2005-06-20

The project started off in Mwanza and has now expanded its activities to other regions such as Kilimanjaro and Dodoma. It will target the Mbeya region (the forgotten part of Tanzania) between July and October 2005. Meanwhile, the project’s website - www.bistanzania.com - is breaking new ground as it is one of the few sites in East Africa to incorporate a lot of ‘Gartner 2’ elements, such as: statistics, a search engine, and a transport module for agricultural commodities. The project team is also starting to experiment with other services, like brokerage, for certain products and recently organised a number of workshops and seminars, including: a workshop on Information for Rural Marketing’ (November 2004) and an ICT seminar in Mbeya (February 2005).

Introduction

With few exportable commodities and a primitive agricultural system, Tanzania’s government has spent the last twenty years trying to boost the country’s productivity, stimulate self-reliance among its citizens, and attract foreign loans and investments. To achieve this, it adopted a policy of economic liberalisation and non-intervention. Although well-received by the IMF and the World Bank, the policy has left the agricultural sector with virtually no institutional infrastructure, which in turn has made the country’s farmers vulnerable. Just how vulnerable was illustrated during the recent cashew nut crisis: farmers were encouraged to plant cashew nuts by the government, however this led to a market glut. Cashew nut prices subsequently dropped to such an extent that 'inland' prices were even lower than those for peanuts.

Objectives

The main objective of the project is to improve the economic development of farmers and farmer groups and of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It does this by helping farmers access information on prices, logistics, best farming practices, transport and intermediate services. The project initially focussed on gathering and disseminating information on cotton, rice, maize and fish, the main crops in the target areas, but gradually added other crops to the list. To achieve long-term sustainability it also plans to set up a dynamic network of key stakeholders in the agricultural sector to enable them to exchange information and experiences on a regular basis. Rather than focussing on one specific region, the project will operate in a number of different areas throughout the country.

Planned outputs

The project aims to set up a network of farmer organisations and local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) – with BIS acting as the ‘spider in the web’ - to help them to exchange price information and marketing expertise.

Development Impacts

Farmers and farmers’ associations stand to benefit directly from this project, along with NGOs active in the agricultural sector. Providing farmers with timely access to relevant information whenever and wherever they need it will increase their bargaining power and will help them make informed decisions on when and where to buy and sell. This will help them increase their productivity in the long term and improve their decision-making capacity with regard to farming practices. Overall, this new opportunity to search for locally relevant information will empower local people significantly. BIS also has strong links with another longstanding, IICD-supported project that specifically targets young people: the Crop Marketing Bureau (CROMABU) project. The CROMABU link will help BIS to reach young people and contribute to their education.

Management and organisation

Business Information Services (BIS) is a daughter company of Business Care Services (BCS), a local consultancy firm with five daughter companies. BIS aims to take ICTs to farmers in the rural areas and to position itself as the most reliable source of agricultural information for farmers and small and medium-sized enterprises. It has its headquarters in Tanzania’s capital, Dar es Salaam, and four branch offices in Arusha, Mbeya, Mwanza and Ruvuma:
• Arusha, in the North, is a tourist-magnet and home to several international organisations including the re-established East African Community. It also has a rich agricultural tradition, with local farmers cultivating a variety of crops including coffee, onions, wheat, beans, bananas, as well as growing flowers (for export) and raising livestock.
• Mbeya, in the south-western part of Tanzania, is a business centre for the regions of Iringa and Rukwa. These regions produce rice, coffee, maize, beans, tea, cocoa, bananas and garlic.
• Mwanza, Tanzania's second largest city, is located on the shores of Lake Victoria. It serves the regions around the Lake as well as three of Tanzania’s neighbouring countries: Rwanda, Burundi and Eastern Congo. Mwanza and its hinterland are famous for cotton, rice, livestock and fish.
• Ruvuma, located in southern Tanzania, is one of Tanzania’s largest suppliers of maize, coffee, tobacco and beans.

BIS plans to expand its service to Morogoro and Iringa in the near future. The long-term objective of the project is to cover the whole country. To do this effectively it will collaborate with similar projects such as the Crop Marketing Bureau (CROMABU) project, set up with IICD’s support in 1999.

Market and finance

The project is expected to generate income through subscriptions, especially from institutional clients such as donor organisations and NGOs, and advertisements. IICD no longer funds this project: its role has become one of providing strategic advice only. The project can therefore be described as self-sustaining.

Results

After a promising start, the BIS project has managed to initiate activities all over Tanzania and, in so doing, amass a great deal of experience of working with local farmer groups and discovering first-hand what their information needs are. Now that its website - www.bistanzania.com - is fully operational and updated at least once a week, the project team is focussing its attention on the methodology of data collection and analysis. Other means of spreading price information are also being considered. By cooperating with other organisations such as VECO (a Belgian NGO) and SNV (an NGO that sends Dutch volunteers abroad), the project has also been able to expand its services to two more regions: Kilimanjaro and Dodoma. The project has also been given a lot of coverage in the national press. Meanwhile, BIS has started experimenting with other services, such as brokering specific products. BIS recently organised a workshop on rural marketing and is in the process of setting up a network of NGOs and farmers’ organisations.

Project Owner : Business Information Services (BIS)

Project Partners : Cromabu

Project Contact : IICD