MFarm Price Information: Next Generation Agriculture in Kenya

Figure 1: a snap shot of tomato trends in MFarm

Agriculture remains to be one of the main economic pillars of Kenya. Over the years, it has been rain fed with most production happening in the rural areas. Farmers plant at the onset of the rains and harvest at end of the rains. Well, for most of the famers that’s the case.

This mode of production got us having periods of high food supply and other can-do-without-tomatoes-attitude periods. And as you can guess, the prices favor only those who harvest while all other farmers are preparing their lands, the off season.

That’s not the only main problem; there is the broker- one of the necessary evils in agriculture. The broker knows the market well and uses this advantage to exploit the farmer when it comes to the price determination part. That’s very terrible indeed.

Picture this, you incur all the costs of planting, nurturing the crop, harvesting and when your produce are ready, someone comes in and tells how much your produce are worth. I bet that’s why the excuse- me-attitude youth can’t stand farming as a business.

Some of the aforementioned problems can be a problem of the past with the ever growing decision making tools that can help farmers make smart decisions and stop guessing whether or not they will make profit once they harvest. A good idea will be to follow price trends which can guide in determining what to plan when. It’s simply, the game of numbers. These numbers can determine your facial expression in the harvesting time of your products.

So, where can you get these price trends? All you need to do is to relax and contact MFarm. MFarm is a software solutions and Agribusiness Company which offers you price information across the major towns in Kenya; Mombasa, Nairobi, Nakuru, Eldoret and Kisumu.

Here is why you need to make MFarm price information your ally:

Get daily prices of different commodities. With MFarm, you can be assured of daily performance of 5 major towns in Kenya at the comfort your couch, or whatever your daily business is. Isn’t that great? You don’t have to wait for a week to know how the prices of capsicums were selling last week. How is that going to help you? Get to know how the capsicums are selling today at the market.

Know when to plant. With MFarm price trends, you can tell when is the right time to plant your crop so as to time the market. With an idea of price peaks, you can time harvesting of your crops so as to hit the market when everyone is exiting. With that you will surely make it agribusiness.

The power to negotiate, a very key thing in good business. With daily prices information of, for example, cucumbers, you can now sit down with the broker and have a cup of coffee as you negotiate how you will share the marginal benefit (Nairobi prices per unit less the production cost you incurred)

Comparison among markets, another great deal. If your capsicum farm is right in the middle of Nairobi and Nakuru, then having a chance to compare the prices of these two towns can be a pretty awesome thing. You can know, after calculating your cost of transportation, where the stake is going to be high rather than just sticking to one market.

Farmers all over Kenya are using MFarm prices to upgrade their agriculture, for example, Jacob Odoyo who has a farm in Ahero says he can’t sell his Kales to anyone before confirming prices of different markets in MFarm. His revenue has risen ever since he started using MFarm price information.

So, do you want to up your agribusiness game? Do you want to reduce some risks in your agriculture and price your commodities right? MFarm has the solution for you.

How to access MFarm price information is pretty simple, you can visit www.mfarm.co.ke/prices or you can also send an SMS to 20255 to get the prices, for example, price capsicums Nairobi, then send to 20255( only 1/= and less than a minute). One other option available is that you can download the MFarm app on the Google play store. This will give you prices per commodity for the last six days. Isn’t that a relief?

So, my fellow farmer, worry not my friend. Relax, you got MFarm!