Abstract
Increased information flow due to mobile phone network expansions is expected to reduce marketing costs of agricultural commodities. We investigate this using panel data of 856 Ugandan households in 94 communities, where the number of communities covered by mobile phone networks increased from 41 to 87 between surveys in 2003 and 2005, respectively. After the expansion of coverage, we find increased sales of banana in remote communities but not of maize. The mobile phone coverage expansion seems to induce the market participation of farmers in remote areas who produce perishable crops.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
 Plantain (cooking banana) is the dominant banana variety in Uganda. In our sample, more than 90% of the bananas are plantain. The rest are brewing and dessert bananas. Although we know the variety of banana produced by our sample farmers, we do not know the quality, such as weight and taste.
- 2.
 In Muto and Yamano (2009), we compare the same model for banana and maize, which is less perishable than banana. We do not find any significant impacts of the mobile phone network on maize price and marketing.
- 3.
 Local Council 1 (LC1) is the lowest administrative unit in Uganda.
- 4.
 In the 2005 community surveys, we asked the timing of when the community was covered by the mobile phone network.
- 5.
 Note that there are some households that own mobile phones in communities that are not covered by the network. We think that they own the phones to use when they travel to areas, such as large cities, that are covered.
- 6.
 In the descriptive statistics, we compare locations more than 20 miles away and less than 20 miles away since our nonparametric analysis suggests that in locations less than 20 miles away, prices decline with distance but not beyond 20 miles, possibly due to an increase in supply from more distant production areas.
- 7.
 The 2005 values are deflated to the 2003 price level by using the consumer indices from the International Financial Statistics.
References
Aker JC (2008) Does digital divide or provide? The impacts of cell phones on grain markets in Niger. Working Paper 154. Center for Global Development, New York
Bayes A (2001) Infrastructure and rural development: insights from a Grameen Bank Village Phone initiative in Bangladesh. Agric Econ 25:261–272
Donner J (2004) Microentrepreneurs and mobiles: an exploration of the uses of mobile phones by small business owners in Rwanda. Inf Technol Int Dev 2:1–21
Goyal A (2008) Information technology and rural markets: theory and evidence from a unique intervention in Central India. University of Maryland Working Paper. University of Maryland, Baltimore
Hayami Y, Kawagoe T (1993) The agrarian origins of commerce and industry: a study of peasant marketing in Indonesia. St Martin’s Press, New York
ITU (International Telecommunication Union) (2007) Yearbook of statistics: telecommunication services 1996–2005. ITU, Geneva
Jensen R (2007) The digital provide: information (technology), market performance, and welfare in the South Indian fisheries sector. Q J Econ 122:879–924
Muto M, Yamano T (2009) The impact of mobile phone coverage expansion on market participation: panel data evidence from Uganda. World Dev 37:1887–1896
Overa R (2006) Networks, distance and trust: telecommunications development and changing trading practices in Ghana. World Dev 34:1301–1315
Pender J, Nkonya E, Jagger P, Sserunkuuma D, Ssali H (2004) Strategies to increase agricultural productivity and reduce land degradation: evidence from Uganda. Agric Econ 31:181–195
Smale M, Tushemereiruwe WK (2007) An economic assessment of banana genetic improvement and innovation in the Lake Victoria Region of Uganda and Tanzania. Research Report 155. International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC
The New York Times (2005) Cellphones allowing Africans to reach out. The New York Times, New York (August 26)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Muto, M., Yamano, T. (2011). Mobile Phone Coverage and Market Participation: The Case of Banana Marketing in Uganda. In: Yamano, T., Otsuka, K., Place, F. (eds) Emerging Development of Agriculture in East Africa. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1201-0_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1201-0_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-1200-3
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-1201-0
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsEconomics and Finance (R0)