Improved rural telecommunications needed to boost rural incomes

Although bad weather is largely to blame for consecutive poor harvests in Malawi, farmers say the government should spend more on providing appropriate information if the agricultural sector is to see a turnaround. "The kind of information that goes out to farmers is irrelevant or full of factual errors. Sometimes the information is delayed and this has a negative impact on their crop production," Benito Eliasi, executive director of the Malawi Farmer's Union, told IRIN. He said the government had acknowledged that greater effort was needed to improve rural infrastructure, but more emphasis should be placed on beefing up telecommunications in isolated communities. The first step towards improving access to information for thousands of illiterate farmers was to ensure that messages were conveyed in local languages - more than 80 percent of rural women in the impoverished country can neither read nor write and depend on word-of-mouth or local public radio and television for information. "Education is an important tool to reduce poverty in Malawi, but the information that is given out must be in the language of the users, affordable, and have immediate value. Internet [access] will allow us to connect our farmers to foreign markets - already we have tried to secure some markets for farmers who would like to sell their paprika outside Malawi," Eliasi noted. Jacob Mapemba, an agricultural and rural development expert, agreed. "When it comes to production many farmers rely on experience - they cannot read instructions whenever they want to apply fertiliser or any other chemical to their crops. We need communication strategies aimed at helping farmers - although many farmers may not know how to read or write, their school-going children can read the local language." Mapemba pointed out that the lack of information regarding market prices meant farmers often sold their produce at very low prices or even at a loss. The ministry of information, communication and tourism has committed itself to improving information communication technology (ICT) in rural areas, but has made it clear that basic infrastructure was needed. "Government is trying to put up an ICT policy because it has realised how important it is not only to farmers but to all other sectors of the economy; but what government needs to do is to improve infrastructure, such as roads network, electricity and telephone systems," an official in the department of communication commented. With few exploitable mineral resources, agriculture is the mainstay of Malawi's economy, representing 38.6 percent of GDP and providing employment to over 80 percent of the labour force.