Dear GKD Members, A Nigerian farmer has asked for advice (because he knows I can get information from the Internet and he is now in a position to exchange emails with me). I am directing this request for information to the GKD List for two reasons:
1) Because it is a practical example of the kind of thing the GKD List addresses - the use of ICTs for development, access to and use of information resources by the poor in rural areas, access to information and knowledge throughout developing countries. 2) Because someone might genuinely be able to help by pointing me in the direction of the information that the farmer needs. This is the farmer's situation. He has more land than he can cultivate, even with the help of his family members. He has taken part in various training schemes for farmers organised locally. These have involved the training agencies using a tractor on his farm. He has plans to develop his farm and wants to buy his own second hand tractor. (I understand that when he was younger and doing military service he was a mechanic.) He has been saving and is reaching a point where he needs advice about the purchase. This is what he has done so far. In his village there is a scheme whereby people save some money each month. I don't understand exactly how it works, but it seems as if each month everyone in the scheme pays in, and someone in the scheme reaches the point of leaving the scheme and taking out that month's money. He has been paying into this scheme for some time, in order to make a down payment towards a second-hand tractor. Then he plans to continue paying it off, at least at the same rate that he has been paying into the savings scheme. (He has told me the amounts involved). This is his problem and information need. This month it will be his turn to get the payout of the money, but he has not yet found the best way to buy a second-hand tractor. He needs to know urgently so he can use the money for the purpose he has been saving it. If he does not spend the money quickly towards the tractor then he will not be able to keep hold of his savings. In his community everyone knows everyone's business, so all his extended family will know that he has "come into this money". This means that they will soon be coming to him with all their financial needs and he will not be able to refuse them. Does anyone know how to help him to use his savings to start to purchase a tractor and improve his farm, as he has been trained to do? Pam McLean CawdNet -- using the Internet on behalf of rural communities in Africa ------------ ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/>
