Mobile Surveys Set to Transform African Agriculture Industry

  • Wednesday, February 4th, 2015
  • Author: Tim Maytom
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geopoll control unionMobile survey platform GeoPoll and Control Union, a global leader in agricultural certifications and sustainability, have partnered to deploy a data collection solution to hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers in Africa and Asia, enabling them to gain access to larger markets.

Through the partnership, Control Union can tap into GeoPolls multimodal mobile platform and database of 200m users, granting them access to a cost effective data collection system.

Together, the companies hope to engage and educate 1m farmers by 2020, utilising SMS and voice messaging to reach agricultural workers throughout emerging markets. The data collection will enable global brands, exporters and suppliers as well as governments and non-profit to ensure social compliance in key value chains, as well as empower farmers to reach larger markets than they would otherwise have access to.

“Control Union is excited to focus its expertise and better support smallholder farmers,” said Johan Maris, managing director of Control Union. “GeoPolls team and platform provides us practical tools to connect with rural farming communities to educate, certify and link them to a global marketplace.

“The survey tools also empower our commercial clients to monitor goods as they move through supply chains, increasing transparency and helping them report better economic and social impact. Accessing information from the most remote farming communities will no longer be a barrier to asking or answering consumer questions.”