View full metadata
Cite as
-
Full Title
ECONOMIA AGRO-ALIMENTARE
-
Publisher
FrancoAngeli
-
ISSN
1126-1668 (Printed Journal)
1972-4802 (Online Journal)
-
Journal Issue Number
3
-
Journal Issue Designation
3
-
Journal Issue Date(YYYY/MM)
2014/01
-
Full Title
The use of mobile phones by Kenyan export-orientated small-scale farmers: insights from fruit and vegetable farming in the Mt. Kenya region
-
By (author)
-
First Page
55
-
Last Page
75
-
Language of text
English
-
Publication Date
2014/01
-
Copyright
2013FrancoAngeli srl
Introduction or preface
In recent years, mobile phones have become a common feature in business and society in Kenya and are increasingly used in farming. This is also the case for export-orientated small-scale farmers. The aim of this paper is to study the role of mobile phone use by Kenyan export-orientated small-scale fresh fruit and vegetable famers (ffv). We focus on farmers in the Mt. Kenya region using data from questionnaires and expert interviews. We identify four different types of exchange for which mobile phones are used by these farmers: 1. transactions, 2. information, 3. complex knowledge and 4. organization and networking. Our results suggest that the use of mobile phones can improve the farmers' possibilities for payment, production, marketing, and knowledge transfer, and their competitiveness and integration in international value chains. However, so far the advantages are mostly limited to simple communication and payment; the broad introduction of new applications (with the exception of mobile payment) has not yet taken place.
Reference list of
10.3280/ECAG2013-003005
Unstructured Citation
Aster (2009). Advanced Spaceborn Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer. www.gdem.aster.ersdac.or.jp/index.jsp. Retrieved August 1, 2010.
Unstructured Citation
Bathelt, H. (2011). Innovation, learning and knowledge creation in co-localized and distant contexts. In Handbook of Local and Regional Development, 149-161. Routledge, London.
Unstructured Citation
Carmody, P. (2012). The Informationalization of Poverty in Africa? Mobile Phones and Economic Structure. Information Technologies & International Development, 8(3), 1-17.
Unstructured Citation
Dannenberg, P. (2012). Wirkung und Umsetzung von Standards in internationalen Wertschopfungsketten. Reihe Wirtschaftsgeographie 53. Munster: Lit Verlag.
Unstructured Citation
Dannenberg, P., & Kulke, E. (2005). The Importance of Agrarian Clusters for Rural Areas – Results of Case Studies in Eastern Germany and Western Poland. Die Erde, 136(3), 291-309.
Unstructured Citation
Dannenberg, P., Kunze, M., & Nduru, G.M. (2011). Isochronal Map of Fresh Fruits and Vegetable Transportation from the Mt.
Kenya Region to Nairobi. Journal of Maps, 11(1), 273-279.
https://doi.org/10.4113/jom.2011.1169
Unstructured Citation
Dijkstra, T. (1997). Commercial horticulture by African smallholders: A success story from the highlands of Kenya. Scandinavian Journal of Development Alternatives, 16(1), 49-74.
Unstructured Citation
Elosy, K., & Mburu, J. (2012). Opportunities and challenges for youth’s participation in horticultural production in the face of Globalgap standards in Kenya. Presented at the International Conference on “Young People, Farming and Food” Accra, Ghana, Departement of Agricultural Economics, University of Nairobi.
Unstructured Citation
Eriksson, E. (2008). A case study about cell phone use by people in rural Kenya. School of Mathematics and Systems Engineering. Vaxjo University.
Unstructured Citation
Essar. (2009). Local Network Coverage. Nairobi: Essar. 31 September 2009. http://yu.co.ke/about-us/coverage. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
Unstructured Citation
Graffham, A., Karehu, E., & MacGregor, J. (2007). Impact of EurepGAP on smallscale vegetable growers in Kenya (International Institute for Environment and Development No. 7). London.
Unstructured Citation
Henderson, R. (2012). Banking on innovation. 10 September. www.dialogueonline.info/features/banking-innovation. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
Unstructured Citation
Humphrey, J. (2002). Business-to-business e-commerce and access to global markets: exclusive or inclusive outcomes? Institute of Development Studies.
Unstructured Citation
Ilri (2007). International Livestock Research Institute gis services. http://64.95.130.4/gis/. Retrieved August 1, 2010.
Unstructured Citation
Jaffee, S.M. (1994). Contract Farming and Shadow Competitive Markets: The experience of Kenyan Horticulture. In Living under Contract. Contact Farming and Agrarian Transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa (pp. 97-193). Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Unstructured Citation
Jamhuri (2011). Kenya 154 out of 183 World Countries with 1,700$ Per Capita Income. 20 November. http://jamhurimagazine.com/index.php/opinion/3262-kenya-154-out-of-183-World-Countries-with-1-700-per-capita-income.html. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
Unstructured Citation
Kirk, M., Steele, J., & Crow, L. (2011). Connected Agriculture - The role of mobile in driving efficiency and sustainability in the food and agriculture value chain. London: Accenture.
Unstructured Citation
Mbuvi, D. (2012). Safaricom holds agm, says rebuilding M-pesa. 18 September. www.cio.co.ke/news/main-stories/safaricom-holds-agm,-says-rebuilding-m-pesa. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
Unstructured Citation
McCulloch, N., & Ota, M. (2002). Export Horticulture and Poverty in Kenya. Institute of Development Studies. Brighton.
Unstructured Citation
Minot, N., & Ngigi, M. (2003). Are horticultural exports a replicable success story? Evidence from Kenya and Cote d’Ivoire. International Food Policy Research Institute. Washington.
Unstructured Citation
Mukhebi, A.W., Kundu, J., Okolla, A., Wambua, M., Ochieng, W., & Fwamba, G. (2007). Linking Farmers to Markets through Modern Information and Communication Technologies in Kenya (pp. 23-27). Presented at the African Association of Agricultural Economists, Nairobi.
Unstructured Citation
Murray, M. (2012). Kenyan use cell phones for everything from buying groceries to payin rent. New York. 24 July. http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/07/24/12909129-kenyans-use-cell-phones-for-everything-from-buying-groceries-topaying-rent?lite. Retrieved February 27, 2013.
Unstructured Citation
Okado, M. (2007). Lessons of Experience from the Kenyan Horticultural Industry. United Nations. Nairobi.
Unstructured Citation
Okpaku, J.O. (2006). into the information economy: Harnessing information and communications technologies in Botswana, Mauritania and Tanzania. In Attacking Africa’s poverty: Experience from the ground. Washington: World Bank, 149-174.
Unstructured Citation
Quiang, C.Z., Kuek, S.C., Esselaar, S., & Dymond, A. (2011). Mobile Applications for Agriculture and Rural Development. Washington: ICT Sector Unit. Washington: World Bank.
Unstructured Citation
Tmsa (2012). TradeMark Southern Africa. Pretoria. 24 September. www.trademarksa.org. Retrieved February 27, 2013.
Unstructured Citation
Unwin, P.T.H. (2009). ICT4D: information and communication technology for development. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.
Unstructured Citation
Vincent, K., & Cull, T. (2013). “Ten Seeds”: How Mobiles Have Contributed to Development in Women-Led Farming Cooperatives in Lesotho. Information Technologies & International Development, 9(1), 37-48.
Unstructured Citation
Waitathu, N. (2008). Kenyan horticulture: weathering the political storm? March. www.new-ag.info/en/developments/devItem.php?a=378. Retrieved February 28, 2013.
Unstructured Citation
West, D.M. (2012). How Mobile Technology is Driving Global Entrepreneurship. The Brookings Institution, Washington.