Advice for sale - who will buy?

Farmers everywhere are confronted by the cold blasts of free trade, harsh competition and the privatisation of services once provided free by government but now to be paid for. Many extension services are at 50 per cent or less of establishment strength due to HIV-AIDS, and governments in Africa, in particular, are faced with developing agriculture to contribute more to the national economy while lacking the personnel and funds to service farmers' needs. One alternative being tested in a number of countries, including Uganda, is provision of high quality, relevant services to farmers by private service providers.

Uganda's Plan for Modernization of Agriculture (PMA) emphasises decentralization and private sector provision of agricultural services, including research and extension. A pilot project during 2005 has been using electronic technology (computers and the Internet) to offer would-be users the information and data they require to enhance agricultural production, processing and marketing. Called Market Place for Agricultural Information Services, MPAIS is aimed at those who advise and service farmers rather than at farmers themselves. Private sector agricultural consultants, advisors and trainers have been invited to register with MPAIS, receiving a user name, password and an account through which he or she can pay for the information purchased off-screen.

How to buy services

Available technical information covers all the main crops, including main staples and export cash crops (banana, coffee, vanilla etc) and also livestock-cattle, goats, pigs and poultry. "It is practical, very much 'how-to-do' information," says Paul Nyende of Africa 2000-Uganda, who has been coordinating MPAIS during its nine-month pilot period March-December 2005. He stresses that privatised extension must keep up to date in order to provide a good service and that the cost of the information that they access on MPAIS must then be passed to their clients. "The farmer pays indirectly for that information by paying the extension officer who is giving him or her that advice," says Nyende. The information providers on the MPAIS website are credited every time a purchase is made of one of their services, and the account of the purchaser is debited.

The pilot project has been run in only four of the 50 districts in Uganda: Soroti, Tororo, Iganga and Mukono. Funded by the DFID Post-Harvest Crop Research Programme, MPAIS has sought to establish whether a web platform for information products and services is viable; what information products and services are most in demand; what Codes of Practice are needed to regulate business on MPAIS; and what governance and financial models are needed? Initially, 50 users were invited to participate; all agreed to certain rules and standards for use of the portal during the trial period and were given training in how to use the portal. Ninety-seven products were posted and requests have been noted and analysed. Suppliers of information and training include Kawanda Agricultural Research Institute (training modules for adding value by smallholder farmers and agroprocessors), Uganda National Farmers' Federation (zero grazing and establishing a fodder bank), Enterprise Development Ltd.(10 manuals on a range of topics), and the Sweet Potato Coalition of Uganda (manuals on varieties of sweet potato for food, health and export). The information purchased can be downloaded from the PC or requested as 'hard copy' delivered through the post.

The nearest PC?

Access to MPAIS in the rural areas is by personal computers, and through Internet Cafes in rural towns for those without a PC; there is at least one Internet Café in each of the four districts. As to the success of MPAIS, "We have learnt that this is a viable market for information services," says Paul Nyende. "Even working in only four districts the pilot period has shown that there is demand. If we scale this up, there will be new opportunities for private business to invest as information and service providers. We have also learnt that there is a willingness to pay for these services, which is one of the things we were testing: the willingness to pay for information."

It appears that there is opportunity to not only expand the project to serve the rest of Uganda but to take it further. However, government cannot abdicate all responsibilities; unless policy and the institutional environment are supportive of services such as MPAIS there will be reluctance for private investment. In Uganda it has been noted also that a service such as MPAIS is at risk from competition where public funded organisations offer information at cost or for free. The cost of maintaining high standards of information must be met, and there needs to be a building of trust between public and private operators. If these issues can be satisfactorily addressed, MPAIS could provide a model for wherever privatisation of extension services is becoming the accepted norm.

MPAIS is a pilot project being implemented jointly by Africa 2000 Network Uganda, Infobridge Foundation (The Netherlands), and Source-KM (UK). It has been funded through the UK DFID Crop Post Harvest Research Programme Regional Office for East Africa.
For further information, contact: pnyende@a2n.org.ug