Presentation by Mrs Mojoko Molua Catherine, President – Walana Wa Makwasi Women CIG - Cameroon Session: Capacity Development, Grassroots Organisations, and ICTs in Agriculture on 6 Nov 2013 ICT4AG, Kigali, Rwanda

1. The Use of Mobile Phones for
Communication with the Grassroots
Farmers on Farm Management and
Marketing Techniques
Presented by:
Mrs MOJOKO MOLUA CATHERINE
President – Walana Wa Makwasi Women CIG - Cameroon

2. Us & our history with mobiles
Catherine: a retired agric extension worker (worked with the farmers for
25 years), currently work with 4,000 farmers in our zone - I know their
problems, we have a relationship built on trust
Dec 2006 – climate change induced disease breakout (Ibo coco)
2007: Youth had an idea to work with sending messages, ignored the
idea, other priorities
2009:
• Coco farmers complained about their prices and the coco dealers
exploiting them
• The same youth came again to remind us on the use of mobiles, to
also inform farmers of prices before they trade with buyers.
• We bought the youth’s idea
2010:
• we started with feasibility studies, discovered 75% out of 100
farmers already have a mobile phone, use it to call.
• Started capacity building: training farmers to send & receive texts

3. How capacity evolves
1st Educate them on how to receive text
messages related specifically to the needs
they expressed: e.g. being cheated on market
prices, availability of healthy planting materials in the
nearby public sector extension office
2nd Farmers start replying to the messages
3rd Now if they don’t receive messages from us, they send us messages to ask
us what is happening!
For women that are not well educated, the children
send the messages or read them.
Other members from the group also help illiterate
women to read the messages

4. Clear value for grassroots farmers:
• Tonnage has increased
• Middle men are no longer coming since the
farmers are communicating directly with
their potential buyers.
• Reduced unemployment and poverty for the
youth: Many youths in the rural areas are
now engaging in agriculture because they
know they will be able to sell their products
• Youth can use the mobile phones more than
the illiterate farmers, they help to teach the
illiterate farmers!

5. Challenges & our insights
• Electricity – some of the zones do not have
electricity and farmers go to nearby villages to charge
their phones
 Recommend Tecno phones: they will work for 1 week
once charged!
• Network accessibility – network is spotted in some
villages
 Contact Orange & MTN agencies and they put up
antennas!
They are keen to serve rural areas where farmers
make productive use of phones!
• Illiteracy among women
 create more farming groups for individual women
and youths to be supported by their peers, groups are
essential

6. Concluding recommendations
1. Do a feasibility studies to come out with their real and
urgent problems, only from there you can start. Without
the feasibility study you won’t know where to start and
you won’t achieve their goals
2. Close, cordial and respectful relationships with
individual farmers is key – they must trust you
talk with them one on one, close contact with them in their
fields, have long-term relationships
We call on other organisations to emulate these
experiences so we can strengthen grassroots
farmers and eradicate poverty