Mobile interactive services to support rural farmers

By NATHAN WOTI
THE Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL) has developed a mobile interactive service called Gapmis which is aimed at connecting farmers in rural communities to markets and commodity prices using mobile phones.
DAL secretary Dr Nelson Simbiken said Gapmis (government agriculture price and market info services) was developed to connect rural farmers to markets through mobile phones as an information communication technology (ICT) tool for development.
Simbiken said that DAL was aligned with the Government’s efforts to connect the country through roads and bring services closer to the rural population ensuring economic freedom and they were playing their part to achieve that goal.
“In the same spirit, DAL is playing its part with development partners —Telikom PNG, Department of ICT, Last Frontier Group, and National Planning and Monitoring Dept – to connect farmers across the country,” he said.
“By using mobile-enabled services we can now digitally map and connect the agricultural population to the commodity markets supporting critical government policies to turn the economy around as we work to take back PNG through meaningful and productive ways.
“Effective delivery of services and support to the rural communities and farmers is vital.
“Hence, we must be able to do so with formidable and practical technologies including partners,” he said. Simbiken said Gapmis offered an effective means of bringing sustainable solutions and agricultural services to a new level by providing up-to-date data.