Journal Article
T
he major challenge for the tomato farmers is getting a fair price at the market price
given that there are many actors involved in the tomato value chain. Given this
situation, this project's goal was to improve communication pathways in dissemination of
agricultural market information in tomato value chains in Iringa and Dodoma Regions in
Tanzania. The specific objectives were to: identify and assess the status of tomato
production and information sharing among the various actors in every node in the tomato
value chain; identify the communication and knowledge dissemination pathways in tomato
value chain; examine the efficacy of communication and knowledge dissemination
pathways in tomato value chain; establish the innovative communication and knowledge
dissemination pathways in tomato value chain, and enhance capacity and empower the
various stakeholders involved in the tomato value chain. One way of achieving the goal of
the study was to come up with an innovative communication pathway that would improve
the marketing of tomatoes by directly linking farmers to markets. The study has developed
a system called Tomato Value Chain Information System (ToVCIS). The system links
famers to different markets in the Tanzania by sending text messages to a control centre
which is fed with prices on a daily basis by government employed market