Building Linkages between the Markets and Smallholder farmers with ICT .

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A lot of the debate on the future of agriculture has been focusing mainly on large scale farmers since their production both at the global and domestic markets is considered sustainable, profitable and of course huge. Very little research has been conducted on the potential of the smallholder farmers at their detriment although i'd dare say that the future of food security in many parts of the world, more so the developing world, lies in harnessing the untapped potential of smallholder farming. With the looming dangers of climate change and global warming which would immensely affect food production levels as a result of the expected erratic weather patterns and the prolonged droughts, an increasing number of people are going to be food insecure in the coming years. The situation is made even worse looking at the recent statistics of global population growth which has hit the seventh billion mark and which therefore means that there'll be more mouths to feed in the coming years yet the amount of food produced globally doesn't tally with this increase. This reality therefore calls for a paradigm shift and a change of focus and tact, from focusing just on the revenue base coming from the large scale agriculture, to building a solid foundation that would cushion many people from hunger.


On the technology front, much of the innovation has been on green technology and ways of enhancing and developing drought resistant gene varieties while building their resilience to pests and diseases. These developments although commendable, are mostly targeted at large scale farmers who have the capital to afford this technologies. The genetically modified organisms popularly known as the GMOs, have received varying reactions in different spheres with some terming them as poisons because of the nature of their production which involves gene manipulation whereas other people think they represent the future of food production that will bolster global food security.
Many smallholder farmers have traditionally been producing their output for domestic and subsistence usage owing to a combination of factors like lack of modern technology, the unsustainable small parcels of land and lack of information on sound agricultural practices to mention but a few. The traditional culture of many African societies hasn't helped the situation either. The subdivision of land into very unsustainable small parcels which get even smaller in each successive generation as the original land is inherited and sub-divided amongst the growing number of family members, means that the portion of the land which was originally set aside for food production will probably give way to other competitive land usage like a  house or something else. The net effect therefore is that the former food secure and independent people are now dependent and food insecure.


During my previous work in consultancies, i have seen quite a number of organizations like the FAO gaining much interest in smallholder production. Unlike their large scale counterparts who probably have complicated management structures and a longer hierarchical order with a stringent budget thus slowing down the decision making process as far as adapting innovation is concerned,  smallholder farmers can benefit immensely from a myriad of technological innovations because of their simple nature and structure. 
The increasing growth in the ICT sector including the growing influence of the social media, presents huge opportunities in  areas of research, branding, market expansion through marketing and advertisement. Google for instance, has developed a simple tool that would enable SMEs put their products and services out there for access by the wider market with very simple steps to follow when populating their websites. The initiative dubbed "Putting Businesses Online", enables entrepreneurs to leverage on the power of a simple website to advertise their products and services in order to reach out to a wider market. This will cut down operational costs like advertisement which normally discourage many budding entrepreneurs from establishing their businesses. For a smallholder farmer dealing with perishable products like milk and vegetable, the prospects are greater from the exposure one would get through free advertisements. This could provide them with a ready market which will ensure a steady flow of the goods while cutting down losses associated with such goods.


Developing a platform like a website specifically for smallholder farmers with portals containing materials touching on various topics like farm management, crop varieties, treatment of pests and diseases, value addition etc would open up a new channel of communication and knowledge exchange that will go a long way in boosting that sector. A mobile phone, being the most accessible communication gadget, can transform the life of a smallholder farmer. People can trade and bid on whatever item on sale while all the benefits go straight to the farmer without involving the middlemen.
The same platform would  also act as a forum where farmers ask different questions about the best farming methods or seed varieties and people with the necessary knowledge or expertise  would act as resource persons thereby creating a lasting network for knowledge and information exchange. With a simple platform like a blog, a facebook page or even a twitter account, they can set up forums where one asks questions and receive answers from a wide variety of audiences with experience on that particular subject. Much of these is basically going to be spearheaded by the youth; one because they represent the future in terms of its opportunities or lack of it. The other reason is because, most software and technology developers are young people and as such, they are able to communicate in their "tech lingua franca" effectively in an attempt to provide solutions to the problems affecting the society. The youth are also the majority occupants of these small parcels of land which makes them the right candidates and implementers of this initiative that aims at turning the fortunes of smallholder farmers from mere subsistence to small-scale commercial farmers thus improving their living standards. This also has the power to build their resilience towards the impacts of climate change whose negative impacts is expected to hit the smallholder farmers the hardest.