Testing a Phone Directory: Impacts of a Printed Mobile Phone Directory on Small-Scale Farmers and Agriculture-Related Enterprises in Tanzania

The directory, called Kichabi, is a booklet containing contact information and basic descriptive information for various sectors, including wholesale trade, retail trade, transport, and financial services. The directory was distributed to farmers and enterprises in the Manyara regions of Tanzania through community meetings. Initial assessments conducted in the study area identified a lack of systematic directory services as a significant challenge for individuals with weaker social networks or limited capacity to travel and gather numbers. The printed mobile phone directory had substantial impacts for small-scale farmers, increasing their use of mobile phones by 36 percent for farm activities, 75 percent to source inputs, and 22 percent to order goods for delivery from outside the village. Treated farmers were 23 percent more likely to use hired labor, 27 percent less likely to experience a maize crop failure, and sold crops at prices that were 70 percent higher. The directory also likely had impacts beyond the immediate recipients, with the majority of recipients reporting sharing the directory within their household and 43 percent reporting sharing it outside the household. The directory had significant impacts on enterprises as well, with listed enterprises reporting a 27 percent increase in the number of incoming business-related phone calls in the last two days and a 12 percent increase in the use of mobile money. The directory seems to have prompted new connections, rather than simply diverting contacts from some businesses to others. Willingness-to-pay experiments conducted in 2016 showed that individuals in treated villages had a slightly lower average willingness-to-pay for a directory than those in untreated villages. However, access to someone else's directory may have made people less willing to pay for their own copy. The results suggest that directory services have important implications for enterprises, particularly in terms of SME growth. The study found that there is substantial pent-up demand for business communication in rural Tanzania, with farmers willing to pay TSH 835 (about USD $0.40) to receive a copy of the directory on the spot and enterprises showing a strong willingness-to-pay to be listed in future printings. The study suggests that uncertainty, logistical costs, and up-front financing demands have kept private firms from developing this service to date. The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Markets, Risk and Resilience, which conducted the study, generates and transfers knowledge and innovations that promote resilience and empower rural families, communities, and markets to share in inclusive agricultural growth. The study was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) cooperative agreement 7200AA19LE00004.