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ICT to transform lives of Kenyan peasant fishermen

ICT to transform lives of Kenyan peasant fishermen

By henry neondo

John Wandera, 45, pulls by the lake shore and is immediately surrounded by a swarm of ‘brokers’ interested to see his catch for the day and buy him off.

The decision Wandera often has to make at that and similar instances is whether to allow these ‘brokers’ (middlemen), buy him off at throw away price of Kenya shillings 80 a kilogramme (about USD1) or refuse them his catch to go sell it himself in far off markets for better prices.

However, long distance to markets, high costs of transportation, damages to products on transit and none existent storage facilities are often prohibitive denying the poor rural fishermen like Wandera who supplement their fish-income by trading in livestock, and entrepreneurs an opportunity to fully participate in marketing their products.

For years, the fish from the third world’s largest freshwater lake, Lake Victoria, constitute the main economic activity for close to 3 million members of communities around the lake.

But the larger portion of the massive KSH 6 billion (about USD 80 million) annual turnovers from the lake ends up in the pockets of the few shrewd middlemen, usually from without the lake region that plough their businesses around the lake in fishing and agricultural, leaving the local fishermen in perpetual poverty.

Government’s efforts in partnership with the private sector aimed to promote best practices in agriculture/fisheries and market access through conventional extension and agricultural trade fairs have not yielded fruits to poor fishermen.

However, there now appears light at the end of the tunnel for the poor fishermen around the lake as African Center for Women, Information and Communications Technology, ACWICT, in partnership with the Digital Partners Social Enterprise Award teem up to set up an internet based marketing strategies aimed to bypass the middlemen and bring farmers to the market via the internet.

The two have teemed up to come up with a project aimed at enhancing networking among rural fishermen, livestock and crop farmers’, entrepreneurs’ and service providers’ and provide timely access to innovation and markets.
Earned through competitive awarding system, the award would enable ACWICT participate in a mentoring program for possible seed fund into its pilot project on a web-based agricultural trade-fair.

According to Constantine Obuya, Executive Director, of ACWICT, the project aims to come up with a dynamic and functional web-based agricultural trade fair website.

She says that the website would be available and accessible to rural small-scale farmers, fishermen, entrepreneurs, and manufacturers of agricultural supplies, agricultural information and technology providers including research institutions and public extension services and the general public within the Lake Victoria region.

Through this project ACWICT seeks to integrate ICT in agricultural and rural development in much of the rural Kenya.

The project would network fishing, livestock and crop producing rural communities in the Lake Victoria region of Kenya with entrepreneurs, processors and agricultural service providers through an interactive web portal that will be complimented by traditional information and communication methods.

“The enterprise, through its web portal coupled with traditional ICTs such as telephone, would transform the annual trade fair into a daily event and avail an information supermarket within the reach of the fishermen and traders thus overcoming prohibitive costs associated with the conventional annual trade fair“, says Obuya.

She adds that the portal will provide within reach a daily showcase for best-bet practices, markets, sensitization, and information exchange on products and services thus breaking the barriers of distance, time, cost and middlemen.

According to Patricia Njuki, the information officer at the ACWICT, content for the website will include categories of needs and exhibitions including text of farm products, equipment and inputs best-bet practices, markets and exhibitors’ information and photographs.

She says that the content would be developed in English and Local languages namely, Kiswahili, Dholuo & Luhya.

She adds that the portal will be complimented with traditional methods of communication. Three Access Centers with Internet connections will be established in the region and connected to a central server located at the nearest internet point of presence, Kisumu, a Lake side city some 400 Km west of Nairobi, Kenya ‘s capital city.

Obuya says that once off the ground, communities will be able to showcase, sensitize and exchange information on their products and services throughout the year.

In October 2003, the African Center for Women, Information and Communications Technology was selected as one of 10 finalists from 130 international projects by Digital Partners' Social Enterprise Award.

ACWICT is already participating in phase one of the SEL project, which is the mentoring process with weekly online conferences with partners from the University of Michigan.

Social entrepreneurs are identified and mentored through a Social Enterprise Laboratory, SEL, which has evolved an effective process so that they are able to receive funding from the Digital Partners Social Venture Fund and access funds from other sources.

The web-based agricultural trade fair will network fishing, livestock and crop producing rural communities in the Lake Victoria region of Kenya with entrepreneurs, processors and agricultural service providers through interactive participation.

The portal will provide within reach a daily showcase for best-bet practices, sensitization, and information exchange on product and services, thus breaking the barriers of distance, time, cost and middlemen. Monthly exhibition and advertising fees and charges on IT-enabled services will ensure sustainability.

Digital partners is an international non profit organization based in Seattle Washington with country offices in chapters currently in the US, India and Ghana.

Since its launch in November 1999 it has succeeded in bringing together the worlds leading intellectuals, development specialists, IT entrepreneurs and their colleagues in a virtual organization that spans the globe.

This network has grown from modest 100 individuals at its inception to over 500 by the start of 2002 and continues to grow.
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