Most small farmers in remote areas like the southern highlands of Tanzania cannot link to markets. Lack of information and lack of power at the negotiating table leave them open to exploitation by other participants in the market chain. Phase 1 of the First Mile Project, implemented from June 2005 to March 2006, set out to help small farmers improve their access to markets and market information. Good communication is vital in marketing. The project encouraged people in isolated rural communities to use new information and communication technologies (ICTs), including the mobile phones that are spreading rapidly throughout Tanzania, as well as E-mail and the Internet to share local experience and learn from one another. At the heart of the project is an innovative approach called Linking Local Learners (LLL). It enables poor farmers, traders, processors, and others from rural areas to learn together how to build profitable marketing chains from producers to consumers. By encouraging smallholder farmers to use mobile phones and the Internet to collaborate and learn together, First Mile enables them to participate more equally in time-sensitive, complex marketing transactions and to take advantage of the opportunities offered by globalization.
