Reuters Market Light (RML) is a unique,
`bottom of the pyramid', mobile-based information service from Thomson
Reuters for farmers in certain states of India. Launched in October 2007, it
provides individual farmers with `customized, localized and personalized'
weather forecasts, local crop prices, agricultural
news and relevant information (i.e., crop
advisory) - in the form of SMS messages sent to
their mobile phones in their local language. This allows subscribing farmers to plan
irrigation, application of fertilizers, and harvest
their crop - thus, managing some of their risks, as well as to decide when and where to
sell their produce to maximize profit. In 2008, RML was selected by the UNDP as one
of the six business initiatives that have the potential to contribute to the
Millennium Development Goals.
Among the many challenges faced by farmers in India, which account for
India's poor productivity when compared to other leading agricultural countries - such
as overregulation and inefficient government policies, poor
physical infrastructure (e.g., irrigation),
inadequate access to land and finance and weak natural resource management - a
key problem is poor access to information that could help farmers with
cultivation as well as selling. RML provides a
solution to the lack of information problem that farmers face. As a result, many
farmers have attributed significant cost savings to their RML service. |
