By Bob Aston
The Arid
Lands Information Network (ALIN), facilitated by the Ford Foundation, are
organizing an open day to celebrate the unveiling of its E-marketing and
knowledge platform Sokopepe (Kiswahili
word) for “virtual market”.
The ceremony
will take place on Thursday 22, August, 2013, outside the Ng’arua Maarifa Centre
at Sipili, Laikipia County. The Governor of Laikipia, HE Joshua Irungu is
expected to grace the occasion as the guest of honor. He will be accompanied by
county representatives (ministers) responsible for agriculture and ICTs among
other key stakeholders in leadership and agriculture development. The open day
will involve diverse key stakeholders, including ago-dealers, farmers,
development and government agencies as well as various farmer-support institutions,
such as cooperatives.
Besides
launching of the platform, the open day will afford various stakeholders to network,
share information and create new linkages.ALIN will showcase innovations and
technologies from a few champion farmers from several of our Maarifa Centres
across the country
Sokopepe is
an initiative of Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN) aimed at harnessing the
power of Information and Communication Technologies in enabling farmers to
efficiently reach and exploit a fair market for their produce. At the same
time, it increases efficiency in the agriculture value chain providing a
platform for farmers to share information and execute electronic transactions.
Most
transactions on the Sokopepe platform can be completed on a basic mobile
telephone handset, making it accessible to farmers in remote locations, many of
whom do not own internet-linked mobile phones. Farmers and agro-pastoralists
are encouraged to register with Sokopepe.
Sokopepe, unlike other e-platforms is the first truly
holistic such e-service to be developed in the East African region. Importantly,
most of its functions which include: market information; real time
commodity prices in all major urban centres; a mobile phone-based payment
solution that works across all networks and which does not require users to own
any mobile device, known as Tangaza Pesa
(a first in Africa); and a services for farming tips based on simple SMS.
You can
register to Sokopepe through www.sokopepe.co.ke or through sms as
follows
To register to Sokopepe; Send SMS: REG#IDNumber#FirstName#LastName#County, to 20245 (Wait for confirmation message
to activate your account)
To receive market prices; Send SMS: Price#Commodity#Town, to 20245. For example (Price#Maize#Nakuru)
and to get farming tips, Send SMS:
(Tip#ProductName) to 20245
Example
Tip#maize
Welcome
to the unveiling of Sokopepe, which lends
itself to the theme of “Where buyers meet sellers”. Feel free to contact
Nga’rua Maarifa Centre and be part and parcel of Sokopepe unveiling. We look forward to seeing you during the open
day.
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