The idea behind the project is that through peer-to-peer learning, farmers can solve practical problems they face in gaining access to markets and market information, and in constructing their own producer-to-consumer marketing chains. Through networking opportunities, they learn together through trying out new ideas and exchanging experiences with each other.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are the central tool used in facilitating this networking and learning. The project provides access to online learning and supports and trains intermediaries that can link remote rural producers, who have no electricity or telephones, to the internet. Increasing access to ICTs is envisioned as a means of empowering smallholder farmers, as their needs emerge, through generation and exchange of locally developed good practices in marketing that give meaning to the use of the internet. Specifically, learning group members are trained in how to use an internet-based learning support service called Linking Local Learners. The service enables groups who live far apart and have little or no physical contact to talk about their experiences and challenges, and share their expertise and ideas through a learning community of practice. Learning groups access the service either directly or through intermediaries.

The First Mile Project comprises several phases of activities. Phase one, which was completed in April 2006, included:

• an exploratory workshop for local key players in marketing;
• diagnosis of ICT access and preparation of communication action plans;
• training of trainers in linked local learning methods; and
• development of local learning groups in selected districts.

The project is currently in its second phase, which will support the emergence of commercially viable rural service providers that can use modern ICTs to provide marketing services to small farmers. According to the organisers, the focus will be on how to achieve sustainable and reliable services along market chains in rural areas of Tanzania. Over the course of 2 years, the project will experiment with:

• mechanisms for sustaining local connectivity that helps farmers maintain access to markets through local enterprises; and
• the use of SMS to connect with online databases of locally relevant market intelligence.

In April 2008, the project began testing an online platform in rural areas that is accessible via mobile phone, and includes a low cost laptop computer that can withstand tough rural conditions.

Agriculture, Economic Development, Technology.

The project is designed to bridge the divide between small producers and markets. It also aims to bridge the digital divide that prevents them from getting access to information. The project organisers say: "The term ‘first mile’ refers to bridging the connectivity gap between a village with no electricity and no telephone line to the nearest computer that is online."

According to the organisers, the project has improved rural farmers lives. After one agricultural season, participants agreed that there had been considerable impact on their access to markets and on their production and incomes. Some farmers groups have been able to negotiate prices twice as high as farmers without access to the project.

The majority of Tanzania’s economically poor people live in rural areas, and most are small farmers for whom agriculture is the only way out of poverty. However, economically poor farmers face many difficulties in marketing their produce. They are often forced to sell their produce low and buy farm inputs high because they have little or no choice about whom they sell to, or at what price. Disconnected from consumers and policy-makers, they usually have no control over transportation, storage, and processing as their produce moves along the market chain. Organisers claim that the importance of improving agricultural marketing systems for rural economically poor people cannot be underestimated.
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