From my personal experience working on this area I must say this is an excellent idea. There's a real demand for agricultural knowledge among farmers in rural areas, and this project meets that demand better than any other such projects I have seen in a long time.

This looks like a great idea and similar to something I've actually considered in the past after seeing Ag information systems being developed in S.E. Asia using highly centralized, non-transparent approaches, the sustainability of which was dependent on  government  financing and an army of information gatherers.

 I do question the premise under which you appear to be operating - that there aren't others within the value chain that could benefit from  aggregated  and subsequently analyzed data on prices both at the farm gate and in local markets. Perhaps this is something you've already considered that just didn't make the overview listed above but, it seems like a review of some other business models (like credit information systems) might point you in the direction of engaging not only the poor you aim to serve in covering these costs but also the processors, wholesalers and distributors that would benefit from better informed and organized farmers. Working with only one or a select number of mobile service providers may also add opportunities to build financial value around the service.

Would love to hear your thinking on this as I'm also looking for information and feedback on this idea.    

This terrific project begs to be fully documented and shared via the web and promoted via NetSquared, the Aid Workers Network and various other fora so that others can learn from this and replicate the effort elsewhere. Will you be sharing what works and what doesn't freely online so that others can learn from your experience?

I very much like this idea.

One question:

Why do we need to charge the farmers 10cents beyond the airtime costs they are already spending? A -lot- of farmers would have to use this service in order for them to offset the project's cost, yet charging them more might dissuade them from initially trying the service.

this is a great idea!

This is a very much needed project. It is no news that the biggest obstacle to Kenya's development is the low level resources for farmers, especially with agriculture being the most important economic contributor for the country. There is a sea of evidence testifying to the economic loss of corp failure due to inadequate measures taken to control crop pests and diseases, inefficient use of the existing small land-sizes of farms, unfavorable prices for produces due to lack of farmer representation and negotiation... The answers to these questions are not mysterious and many databases documenting successful farming technologies and marketing in environments like Kenya are already available. All is needed is a way to easily disseminate this information to farmers as they need it. Agrotext is a simple idea that addresses this major problem of information shortage, which is the fundamental problem facing Kenya.

Wow! This is a truly innovative idea. Since agriculture is such a huge part of the Kenyan economy and way of life, this is sure to help many. A plan like this also seems pretty simple to put in place, so why not do it? Keep up the good work!

THIS LOOKS WONDERFUL! Not only is it realistic and feastible, but it would infinitely benefit the farmers of Kenya.

From my personal experience working on this area I must say this is an excellent idea. There's a real demand for agricultural knowledge among farmers in rural areas, and this project meets that demand better than any other such projects I have seen in a long time. Keep up the good work!