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Good practice Imported

Esoko: Mobile Market Information for Smallholder Farmers

Ghana · Accra · See the Ghana profile · See the Accra profile

Evidence: Quasi-experimental Top 24% 92/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Esoko delivers SMS/voice crop-price, weather and agronomic advice to smallholder farmers across Africa; independent research found Ghanaian users earned about 10% more for maize and 7% more for groundnuts than non-users, and it now reaches over 2 million farmers.

10 %
Maize price premium for Esoko users vs. non-users
7 %
Groundnut price premium for Esoko users vs. non-users
2 million+
Farmers reached (2024)
~10
Countries with Esoko service
15+
Years operating (2009-present)
Esoko: Mobile Market Information for Smallholder Farmers

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Esoko Networks
Period
2009-present
Keywords
agriculture, agritech, mobile services, market information

Context

Esoko is an agritech company founded in Ghana in 2009 (building on the earlier TradeNet platform) that sends smallholder farmers real-time crop prices, weather forecasts, agronomic tips and digital payment tools via SMS, voice, IVR and USSD — channels that work on basic phones without internet access. The service has expanded to roughly ten African countries.

Results

A study of the Northern Region of Ghana found that farmers receiving Esoko's mobile market-information service earned about 10% more for maize and 7% more for groundnuts than farmers without access to the service, evidence that better price information strengthens smallholder bargaining power. By 2024 the platform reported reaching over 2 million farmers.

Conclusions

Esoko has sustained itself for over 15 years through a mixed model of donor funding and paid services to agribusinesses, NGOs, mobile operators and governments — a contrast to peer projects that folded once grant funding ended, and a useful reference point for digital-inclusion programmes weighing free vs. revenue-generating designs.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Commonly funded by

Own resources / municipal budget

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Data sources

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