M-Farm Ltd, a mobile services start-up, is digging out profit from a mobile texting solution that provides market information to farmers.
It all began in 2010 when Susan Oguya, Linda Kwamboka and Belinda Abas, concerned that many farmers did not have access to internet went to iHub, a centre for software developers, and developed an SMS-based solution to connect farmers with buyers of their produce.
The group launched M-Farm after winning the IPO48 competition – a 48-hour boot-camp event that gives web and mobile start-ups a platform to launch businesses. Of the 37 initial ideas, M-Farm won €10,000 prize (about Sh1 million) and used the cash as capital.
“M-Farm is a transparency tool for Kenyan farmers,” Ms Kwamboka, a graduate of business & information technology from Strathmore University and one of the co-founders of M-farm Ltd.
“It started from outcry of farmers who felt short-changed by middlemen. To sell, a farmer is just required to send a text message to 3555. For example, ‘sell maize 200kgs 3400’.”
M-Farm’s presence is very strong in Mombasa, Nairobi, Kisumu, Eldoret, Homabay and Migori. It has not been a walk in the park for the entrepreneurs. The biggest challenges were at the beginning when setting the short code. It took four months and some farmers who were interested in the service during that time pulled out because of the delays, she says.
“What we need is consistency in supplies and some farmers cannot meet the market demand. Again, some farmers were not comfortable with the Sh10 service fee they were being charged at the beginning. Now it is affordable to farmers and many use it as much as they can.”
M-Farm is working with radio and TV stations to market the service. “We use a lot of online media too – Twitter and Facebook – and our website. We also go to the ground ourselves to talk to farmers.”
The meeting is done on “Wireless Wednesdays”, where the developers meet farmers and share ideas.
“Basically, farmers are waking up and they know that technology is making their life better,” he says.
M-Farm prices are real time. The service is available on the website, through SMS, or through downloadable application that’s Android based. Now it uses the Samsung Apps store tablets and mobile phones.
So far, more than 5,000 farmers have signed up for the service. The company gets the market and price details from farmers and converts them into internet and SMS format.
