Though Zacatecas is an extremely fertile region of Mexico that supplies food to nearly all of North + South America, Zacatecas' greatest export to the US is not PRODUCE but PEOPLE. Every year, 40,000 able farmers and rural laborers flee to the US in search of a decent living because farming is not seen as a viable profession.     The problems facing farmers range from crop failure to inefficient planting to exploitation by middlemen "intermedarios."
zaca is a low-cost, highly implementable cell phone based platform that seeks to redress several of those problems.   zaca connects farmers to one another, to the market, and to large companies.   Currently, few farmers make the time and energy-intensive trip to the market to obtain prices or sell goods. Via SMS, they can query for crop price information, input yield, and exchange best-practices. Access to timely info means they can bargain collectively with middlemen, earn fair compensation, and make wiser crop-planting decisions. Companies can use zaca to place orders directly with farming cooperatives, assuring farmers a dependable income, and strengthening the firms' corporate social responsibility (CSR).
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In April, zaca will launch a pilot project with local partner ITESM-Zacatecas. If we can successfully address the needs of Zacatecan farmers, we will deploy zaca throughout Mexico.   Already 2 more states have signed up for future deployment.
Zacateca's troubles unfortunately are neither industry nor region-specific. We hope to spread zaca to   distressed farming regions globally (India, particularly, where farmer suicides are a critical concern) and to industries locally (fishing, timber) where accessing and sharing vital information can maintain jobs, restart agricultural economies, and stabilise depleting communities.

COMMUNITY   + CHALLENGE
Zacatecas, Mexico has lost 208 communities over the past 10 years due to depopulation. 74% of its agricultural inhabitants have left because of the hardships they've encountered farming.     These include low crop yields, inadequate remuneration, poor bargaining power, almost all of which stem from a lack of information and knowledge.   Lack of information about neighboring farms means that farmers often grow too much of one crop and not enough of another.   Lack of information about market prices of produce means that farmers often give away their goods at unjustly low prices to middlemen who then sell them on the market for a large profit. Lack of knowledge about farming practices means innovations and techniques on one farm are not disseminated to nearby farms.  

SOLUTION + TECHNOLOGY
zaca is available to anyone in possession of a mobile phone. Close to 2/3 of rural inhabitants in Mexico own a mobile phone and nearly all inhabitants have indirect access to one (through a family member or neighbor).    
 
Examples of PROCEDURE:
Farmers Obtaining Information from the market :  
ex:                   Frenejillo           Tomates                 MXN $0.42/kg.  
   
Farmers Obtaining Information about an intermedario:
ex:                 L. Costa                 Tomates                 249kg                           MXN $81                 via J. Manzilla                         MXN $.33/kg.      

Companies Giving Farmers a purchase order:
ex:                 Del Monte         Tomates                 600kg                         300 (Cejos); 200 (Gonzalez); 100 (Villaca)