2007年VOA标准英语-Text Messages Could Mean Money for African Farm

By Nico Colombant
Dakar
10 May 2007

New technologies are starting to bring market information to African farmers straight to their cell phones, and these services are improving.  But challenges remain in terms of illiteracy¹, market reach and expanding cell phone coverage².  VOA's Nico Colombant has more from Dakar on one such product from Accra, Ghana.

BusyLab's Mark Davies, right, and the Tradenet Technicians

How do you bring information from a market in Ghana, like here in Accra, to a text message on a cellular³ phone?

This type of technology is being fine-tuned by a staff of West Africans and non-Africans working for a company called BusyLab in the Ghanaian capital.

British entrepreneur Mark Davies explains what market information is usually like in Africa.

"These information highways have traditionally been truck routes, transport routes, camel trains through the desert, sort of single corridors of transport, and information sort of just fall off these," he said.

That changes when a user gets information on his mobile phone.

"You can for the very first time in history get essentially⁴ real time information to help a farm know today what are the prices of the commodities in the market today," he added.

The idea is to get that information and make it available through text messages when requested. 

Even though his service is only in its first year, Davies can already point to some interesting transactions.

"One of my partners watched somebody in Kaduna, in Nigeria, text in an offer to sell a product that he had, and within 30 minutes he had three telephone calls from traders in Lagos," he said.  "And the deal was done in an hour.  We have people in Rotterdam who are buying shear⁵ nuts from Mali.  We have got people in Yemen that are buying organic fertilizer in Nigeria."

Back inside a noisy market in Accra, one happy customer was easy to find.

A vegetable seller Dorothy Quaye uses her cell phone to check current prices

"I am Dorothy Quaye.  I am 48 years old and a trader for about 18 years.  I deal in vegetables, tomatoes, cabbage, potatoes, etcetera," she said.

She adds that using a cell phone to improve her business came easily.

"Let us say I sell white maize⁶.  So I am in need of white maize.  I just use my mobile phone that I have to send my message through my phone, that I am in need of white maize, then send the message," she explained.  "Then for about five or some seconds I get the reply back from wherever the maize is, and even the price and even who to contact so before I am searching to go and buy the goods, everything is ready for me."

To expand this business model, an economics professor, Edward Kutsoati, says obviously, widespread illiteracy, will be a problem.

"Reading, writing, education is the key, is the bedrock for any economy, to move on from one level to the next," he said.  "In the time being, it would be a constraint⁷ to the growth of this particular product.  I have relatives back in the village that I wish I could send them text messages, but they are unable to read, they are unable to text message themselves and that would be a constraint."

But Davies says he has an idea for that problem.

"We are looking to set up traders of information, young people, comfortable with technology, helping⁸ farmers sell their produce or buy produce and that is the way we see this dissemination⁹ of information early on, through proxies¹⁰ and trade agents as we call them," he explained.

Other problems include a lack of mobile phone coverage in many parts of rural areas.

Kutsoati says the help of the public sector¹¹ may be needed to improve that situation.

"The potential is there. It is really difficult to assess the risk," he added.  "This is why maybe a public-private venture becomes very critical because it tends to share the risk between the private sector and public sector." 

Other major challenges will be for more farmers to know about the product, and to guarantee the reliability¹² of users.

Economists¹³ say turning cell phone beeps into money in the pockets of African farmers could be an economic miracle if it worked on a large scale, but well worth the effort.

1 illiteracy   

n.文盲

参考例句：

• It is encouraging to read that illiteracy is declining.从读报中了解文盲情况正在好转，这是令人鼓舞的。
• We must do away with illiteracy.我们必须扫除文盲。

2 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

3 cellular   

adj.移动的；细胞的，由细胞组成的

参考例句：

• She has a cellular telephone in her car.她的汽车里有一部无线通讯电话机。
• Many people use cellular materials as sensitive elements in hygrometers.很多人用蜂窝状的材料作为测量温度的传感元件。

4 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

5 shear   

n.修剪，剪下的东西，羊的一岁；vt.剪掉，割，剥夺；vi.修剪，切割，剥夺，穿越

参考例句：

• Every spring they shear off the sheep's wool and sell it.每年春天他们都要剪下羊毛去卖。
• In the Hebrides they shear their sheep later than anywhere else.在赫伯里兹，剪羊毛的时间比其他任何地方都要晚。

6 maize   

n.玉米

参考例句：

• There's a field planted with maize behind the house.房子后面有一块玉米地。
• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。

7 constraint   

n.(on)约束，限制；限制(或约束)性的事物

参考例句：

• The boy felt constraint in her presence.那男孩在她面前感到局促不安。
• The lack of capital is major constraint on activities in the informal sector.资本短缺也是影响非正规部门生产经营的一个重要制约因素。

8 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

9 dissemination   

传播,宣传,传染(病毒)

参考例句：

• The dissemination of error does people great harm. 谬种流传，误人不浅。
• He was fully bent upon the dissemination of Chinese culture all over the world. 他一心致力于向全世界传播中国文化。

10 proxies   

n.代表权( proxy的名词复数 )；（测算用的）代替物；（对代理人的）委托书；（英国国教教区献给主教等的）巡游费

参考例句：

• SOCKS and proxies are unavailable. Try connecting to XX again? socks和代理不可用。尝试重新连接到XX吗？ 来自互联网
• All proxies are still down. Continue with direct connections? 所有的代理仍然有故障。继续直接连接吗？ 来自互联网

11 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

12 reliability   

n.可靠性，确实性

参考例句：

• We mustn't presume too much upon the reliability of such sources.我们不应过分指望这类消息来源的可靠性。
• I can assure you of the reliability of the information.我向你保证这消息可靠。

13 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》