KACE
Reaching the Poor in Rural Kenya with Market Information: A Case Study of a
Market Information System
By: Adrian Mukhebi, Executive Director of KACE
Paper Available at: http://www.cta.int/ctaseminar2004/MukhebiKACE.pdf
Also see: www.kacekenya.com/
This paper shows how information could be communicated to rural farmers in Kenya in a timely fashion that allows them to get market information on a daily basis which allows farmers to advertise their stocks (offers) for sale or their demands (bids) for farm inputs such as fertilizers and improved seeds (Mukhebi, 2004).
- KACE is a Market Information System (MIS) and it is a private company that provides a link between sellers and buyers of agricultural commodities and it provides farmers with quick access to market prices
- Through this system greater communication is provided to rural farmers
- KACE argues that this new means of communication will allow for lower transaction costs, improved market efficiency which will in turn enhance smallholder farmer access to markets and lower market risks.
- The KACE MIS was created on the basis that agricultural markets did not work well for poorer farmers because of their lack of information to markets and therefore through the use of KACE farmers would be able to have access to market information on a timely basis
- The KACE MIS has various components that include:
- Rural market based Market Information Points (MIPs) (an information kiosk in the market place)
- District-level Market Information Centres (MICs)
- Mobile Phone Short Messaging Service (SMS)
- Interactive Voice Response (IVR) service
- Internet based database system
- Mass media (radio)
Some Challenges:
- An unreliable mobile phone network could prevent farmers from getting SMS messages and therefore they are not always necessarily going to be provided with daily market updates.
- This Market Information System (MIS)