MaximsNewsNetwork: 04 May 2010 - IFAD: Tanzania - As Tanzania gears up to host the 2010 World Economic Forum on Africa, the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development reports that the country's recent technological developments in communications could revolutionize the lives of Tanzanians. The growth in mobile phone use as a powerful economic indicator will be one of the key issues influential business leaders, government officials and members of the civil society gathering at the Forum will discuss. In Africa, mobile use soared by 550 percent in the last five years according to a report by the United Nations (UN) Conference on Trade and Development (IFAD) published in October 2009. Mobile subscriptions rose from 54 million to almost 350 million between 2003 and 2008. IFAD in partnership with the Tanzanian Government has helped to develop Mobilinfo, a software platform which is the hub of an information network. From its base in Dar-es-Salaam, it reaches past Lake Victoria into Uganda and across the Massai Mara into Kenya, linking up poor farmers into a marketing network that aims to help increase incomes, reduce waste and reform markets across the region. The network is made up of hundreds of entrepreneurs who collect information from markets and exchange it on the Mobilinfo platform. That information might be about the price of a commodity at a certain market or about a buyer looking for a specific product. SOUNDBITE (English) Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President ...
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