RWANDA DEVELOPMENT BOARD

eRWANDA PROJECT

E-SOKO – The Agricultural Market Price information system

Bringing the market to Rwandans

Ministry Of Agriculture and Animal Resources

ContentsContentsWhat is the eSoko Project?What is the eSoko Project?How does the eSoko system work?How does the eSoko system work?How Is the eSoko System Used?How Is the eSoko System Used?Who is the Systems target Group?Who is the Systems target Group?What are eSoko systems Potential What are eSoko systems Potential

Benefits?Benefits?What is the Current status of the eSoko What is the Current status of the eSoko

System?System?What is the Future of eSoko System?What is the Future of eSoko System?

2

What is the eSoko Project?What is the eSoko Project?Previously MINAGRI used its Planning

and Statistics Unit that collected market

prices from 33 markets distributed all

over the country twice a month. This

information was then faxed to MINAGRI,

who processed, validated and analyzed

the data.

A table by market, province, and district

was then generated and distributed to

different users via email or courier or

wall postings at market centres.

Challenges of the paper system?Challenges of the paper system?

The paper based system resulted in

distribution of mainly outdated information.

A tedious process from data collection,

aggregation, analysis to distribution

Costly data transmission and dissemination

process

Limited access to the information by the key

target group

• A collaborative effort between MINAGRI and RDB-

eRwanda project to utilize the power of technology to

increase faster access to real time agricultural

commodity market price information.

Timeliness Notifications

Publish Reports

Non-response follow-up

Submit Market Prices

SMS WEB

MARKETAGENT

MARKET COORDINATOR

Submit GPS Location

IVR

Approve/Reject Agent Submissions

J2ME/GPS

SMS to AgentsAGRI-USER/ PUBLIC

SMS WEB

Request Price Information

How does the eSoko system How does the eSoko system

work?work?

How Is the eSoko System How Is the eSoko System

Used?Used?

6

COVERAGE 50 Market Covered (i.e. 6-Kigali, 11-Western Province, 11 -Eastern

Province, 8-Northern Province and 14-Southern Province) A total of 27 major agriculture commodities are surveyed Agents collect and submit market prince information on a weekly

basis

Public and Farmers’ Access guide Access via SMS channel

1. Type the following SMS string “Igiciro[Space]izina ry’isoko[space]izina ry’igicuruzwa”

2. Send to shortcode – 76563. Farmer/Trader/Public will get an instant response with the

latest price per unit of the commodity

Web Access Through the URL www.esoko.gov.rw , one can access the

latest commodity prices in all markets as well as weekly and monthly reports regarding commodities available.

Who is the Systems target Who is the Systems target

Group?Group?

Increased access to near real time market price information will:– Reduce costs of communication and to stabilize the prices of the

basic foodstuffs

– Sensitize producers to invest more in products with larger profit margins

– Facilitate access to the foodstuffs by the populations at a fair price

– Contribute to maintaining prices at reasonable levels by encouraging a greater competition

– Enable farmers decide, for example, if it is more lucrative to continue producing the crop or invest in the production of new species or decide on the right season to produce and sell at higher prices

– Facilitate MINAGRI’s food security planning and monitoring program

– Provide planning statistics needed by Government for planning purpose

What are eSoko systems Potential What are eSoko systems Potential Benefits?Benefits?

9

RICE-RW

10

BANANA

11

BEANS

12

Total current SMS traffic is 25,186 Total Guests visited the system is 4043

What is the Current status of the eSoko What is the Current status of the eSoko

System?System?

14

In order to complement the development of a broader agricultural system for MINAGRI, eSOKO Phase II will;

1. Focus on creating eSoko as a market place or trading point for agricultural commodities

2. Enhancement of SMS Interface to support Multilingual interfaces ( Kinyarwanda and English)

3. Enhancement of the analytics capabilities; Reports Enhancements, System User monitoring report

4. Monitoring/ Surveillance of price trends will be enhanced

5. Extend the system to other telecom operators– Tigo, Rwandatel

What is the Future of eSoko System?What is the Future of eSoko System?

15

Thank You

Wilson MusoneraWilson MusoneraeSoko Administrator/ RDB- eSoko Administrator/ RDB-

eRwandaeRwanda