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East African Smallholder Farmers Get An Online Spot Market

East African Smallholder Farmers Get An Online Spot Market

By Sharon Kyatusiimire | From East African Business Week

The Eastern Africa Grain Council (EAGC) in partnership with FoodTrade Eastern and Southern Africa has launched the G-Soko Platform.

This is an online trading service that links smallholder farmers to grain buyers through a networked and structured market mechanism. Gerald Masila, the Executive Director of EAGC said recently in Nairobi, “Right now there is urgency to expand regional food trade due to the exponential growth of staple food imports.

“Linking rural food surplus production zones in Eastern Africa to major deficit urban consumption centres requires a well-functioning regional market. We wanted to address this deficiency but also do it in a way that is inclusive and effective. This is why we developed G-Soko; a market transaction platform that will enhance food trade across borders, and contribute towards making trading more transparent,” Masila said.

According to a release,  the platform will allow farmers to easily sell their products at a favourable prices and this should help stabilise the food supply chain in East Africa because of guaranteed market access.

The G-Soko platform was developed by Virtual City, a leading mobile software solutions firm supporting the supply chain and agribusiness industry in Africa.

Virtual City Managing Director, John Waibochi said, “The model addresses the challenge of funds inadequacy by devising affordable export/import financing modalities. It creates synergies from the small scale farmers to the bulk buyers based on tested market structures.”

He said, “This system also enhances traceability of grains. Its Grain Bulking feature allows farmers to consolidate and sell their grains at aggregation centers linked with certified warehouses. More importantly, G-Soko will Increase the utilization of East African standards for grain commodities and products because quality assurance is key.”

This comes together with a five-year Trade Enhancement and Promotion Programme that aims to encourage trading in the regional staple food markets.

Through the Department of International Development (DfID) Africa Regional Department, the British government has invested £35 million (Ksh 6 billion) in the Food Trade Eastern and Southern Africa Programme to stimulate regional grain markets through partnerships with private companies and policy influencing.

Read more at East African Business Week