A rural farmer can instantly verify the price of corn before selling his goods. A grower can check the going rate of rice before bartering a fair exchange. The XLBrowser , currently available exclusively through Safaricom and powered with information from KACE, powered with information from KACE, will soon be helping farmers throughout East Africa’s rural villages easily access pricing of cereals, legumes, vegetables, tubers, fruits, milk, livestock, fish and fertilizer.
According to one farmer, “Middlemen can no longer cheat us on prices. We are now able to bargain on a level playing field with middlemen, with our knowledge of prices.”
According to Adrian Mukhebi, Executive Director of KACE, “The lack of market information represents a significant impediment to market access especially for smallholder poor farmers: it substantially increases transaction costs and reduces market efficiency. For any one crop, the marketing chain consists of multiple middlemen, each taking a margin at every stage of the chain, and price variations in space and time are often large and erratic.”
“Our partnership with KACE will give our users access to over forty commodities in markets throughout East Africa, providing local farmers with quick and vital access to local market information” according to Suzanna Conrad, VP of Content Acquisition at Mobile-XL. “Our mission is to provide information even to remote and rural areas of Africa. We look forward to implementing this service in other countries and are in the process of selecting providers that have the capabilities, vision and technical expertise of KACE.”
The XLBrowser is a revolutionary, yet affordable, mobile phone application that utilizes SMS to provide instant access to global and local information to anyone, anywhere, using almost any mobile phone. The XLBrowser has a simple and intuitive interface, which allows a user to easily select and instantly receive up-to-the-minute information including: weather, commodity prices, farming tips, news, sports, finance, entertainment, games, music and much more – all with minimal effort, instant results and for the price of an SMS!
How does it work? On a phone outfitted with the XLBrowser™, a user’s command is translated into an SMS and sent to the Mobile-XL™ smart search content server. A reply is immediately generated and sent back to the mobile phone, where the XLBrowser™ formats and displays the response directly on the handset.
KACE collects, processes, updates and disseminates market information daily to farmers and other market intermediaries through the MIS. Market information includes prices of commodities in different markets, and commodity offers to sell and bids to buy, as well as short extension messages. Through the offers and bids function, farmers are able to advertise their stocks (offers) for sale or their demands (bids) for farm inputs such as fertilizers and improved seeds. KACE monitors the usage of the MIS, and receives feedback which it uses to continuously refine and improve the system. For more information, please visit www.KaceKenya.com.
Mobile-XL is a California-based technology company focused on building value added services to mobile users worldwide. Mobile-XL's mission is to connect families, friends, communities and businesses by harnessing ubiquitous SMS technology. Mobile-XL products are revolutionary in offering connectivity and informational tools to areas with limited or expensive internet access. Mobile-XL allows mobile phone users to text message, chat, and access internet-based information from virtually anywhere. For more information, please visit www.mobile-xl.com
For more information on Mobile-XL, please contact:
Media Relations
Dana Mech
dana.mech@mobile-xl.com