Framework for analyzing the role of ICT on agricultural commercialization and household food security

This paper develops a framework for analysing the link between ICT application in smallholder agriculture, household commercialization, and food security. Lack of market information exacerbates the problem of low-level equilibrium poverty that locks smallholder producers into subsistence production where they typically trade in low volumes. The paper examines the effectiveness of ICT-based market information systems on smallholder market linkages in a broader context that encompasses, among others, different cultures, commodities, and farmer types. Investment in physical infrastructure and in providing access to inputs/assets that farmers need in order to facilitate the use of such information services is important