Mobile internet access can increase farmer revenue by 50pc

Telecom operator Vodafone believes if farmers are given access to mobile internet via smartphones, disseminating relevant agricultural information, it can lead to a 50 percent increase in their revenue.

“A 1 percent increase in yields can lead to a 0.6 percent-1.3 percent reduction in poverty in India, having a greater impact than prices alone,” stated Vodafone in its newly released report—Towards an equal world: the mobile internet revolution. The company conducted the study to gauge the potential of mobile internet access in tackling inequality in developing markets.

Small farmers, it says, typically have limited access to internet resources, services, information, markets and social networks. A seamless mobile internet access in the form of reliable weather information, combined with increased price transparency could farmers obtain better prices for their crops, the study states.

According to Vodafone, mobile internet access is also pivotal in reducing information asymmetries and equalizing access to wider social networks and opportunities. "Differential access to information has the potential to create an even bigger divide than exists now between rich and poor farmers, in effect creating a new division between farming communities based on their access to information," the report warns.

Growth in agriculture, it says, particularly benefits those on the lowest incomes. "A 1 percent gain in GDP originating from higher agricultural production generates a 6 percent increase in spending by the poorest tenth of the population, who are predominantly small farmers in most developing countries."