American NGO Trains Farmers Through Text Messaging

FARMERS in the country are reporting improved yields, thanks to training being offered by an American not-for-profit organization and United Kingdom based Frontline SMS. In a statement, Technoserve said with Frontline SMS experts have been able to send farmers' performance progress files without having to travel from the fields to the main offices in Arusha.

"One of the key steps in monitoring and evaluating the success of training is to measure the changes in farmers' behaviour. We train approximately 12,000 farmers every year," said Technoserve's Monitoring and Evaluation Analyst, James Hangaya. Mr Hangaya said there are nearly 60 farmer trainers across the country at the moment, running courses for groups of 15 to 20 farmers at a time...