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Poverty

Mobile phones: No farmer left behind

mobile-phoneDo mobile phones cure poverty? The Nigerian government argues that they do, and it plans to hand out 10 million free mobile phones to farmers in a controversial scheme. According to the country’s minister for agriculture, the phones will help farmers “drive an agriculture revolution”, and “No farmer will be left behind.” An opposition party, on the other hand, argues that the hand-out is a cynical vote-catching exercise in advance of the 2015 elections.

The relationship between mobile phones and economic development is an interesting one. In the past 12 years or so, inexpensive mobile telephones have become prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa. During the same period, sub-Saharan Africa has experienced steady economic growth, notwithstanding continuing obstacles to growth including poor governance, insecurity, famines and disease.

So does the spread of mobile telephony cause economic growth? Or does economic growth enable the spread of mobile telephony? Or are the two completely unrelated? Intuitively, most people would see mobile phones as a net cost, rather than a net income provider; but the ability to communicate with others does bring economic benefits. For example, farmers can make telephone calls to find out where they can get the best prices for their produce.