Text Messaging to Help Farmers
If you were self-employed and had a problem at work, what would you do?
In the Western world, where almost everyone has access to the internet, you would probably Google your dilemma. Or if you need to get in touch with an expert or one of your peers, you would simply look their details up online.
But in many other parts of the world, finding answers in this way is simply not an option. This is particularly true of almost all the half-a-million smallhold farmers worldwide, most of whom are living on less than $1 a day.
But while most farmers have no internet connection, around 90 per cent have access to a basic mobile phone. That's where WeFarm kicks in.
A pioneering UK-based social enterprise, it helps farmers ask questions and share their knowledge and expertise via a free peer-to-peer text messaging service.
WeFarm users can ask questions on agriculture and livestock and receive crowd-sourced answers from other farmers around the world within minutes.
It means they have access to a huge bank of specialist knowledge, and can act quickly to stem the problem - crucial when livestock are dying or they need to know the best time to plant crops.
Ken Banks