Description
Trade AgroInformAsia is an electronic free agriculture trade portal featuring 14 types of agricultural products and inputs for sale and purchase, supporting trade among the neighbouring nations of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, China and the Russian Federation. The 14 products are agricultural machinery, containers and packaging, beekeeping, cereals and legumes, dried fruit, fruit, vegetables, livestock, poultry, plant protection products, fertilizers, processed products and seeds. Trade AgroInformAsia provides contact information for product providers. The system was developed in 2016 by the Neksigol and AgroInformAsia consortium under the technical guidance of the UNDP as part of the “Aid for Trade in Central Asia” project. Trade AgroInformAsia is part of the Agro Space e-commerce – a web-based e-commerce developed jointly by the AgroInformAsia company in Kyrgyzstan and AgroInform.TJ in Tajikistan as a hub for the hosting of various digital products developed for farmers.
Technology
The web-based e-commerce and Android mobile app allow the posting of advertisements that can be accessed online through computers, tablets or smartphones. Users must register before posting an advertisement, although activation by the administrator is not required. Registered users can administer their ads via an admin panel and save ads on a favourites list, while users can filter ads by country and category. Keyword-based searches of ads are also possible.
Target
The e-commerce has been designed for anyone involved in the agriculture sector. The main users of the e-commerce are farmers, agriculture input suppliers, industry and food consumers. It requires basic computer skills to use, and is available in the Russian, Kyrgyz, Tajik and English languages. The developers claim that Trade AgroInformAsia acquires 3000 new users a month from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and other countries.
Business model
The trade e-commerce is free to use, and was created as a part of the United Nations Development Program project “Expanded Europe: Aid for trade in Central Asia”, with financing from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland and additional funding obtained through HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation Kyrgyzstan. The web-based e-commerce features two types of in-app advertising: Google Ads, and an embedded module for the posting of advertisements. Posting an ad costs USD 5/month or 25 USD/year (as of December 2022).
Impact
The trade e-commerce eases the access of farmers to markets and facilitates food value chain linkages. It links supply with demand in the food supply chain, allowing consumers to buy directly from farmers, farmers to buy directly from input suppliers, etc., across different countries.
Partners
United Nations Development Program; Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland; HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation Kyrgyzstan; GiZ- The German Society for International Cooperation
Four Betters
Better production
