Over the last two years, we have received almost 13,000 text messages from 1,700 farmers. Every time they text us, we learn a little bit more about their behavior. This analysis can be utilized as a powerful tool for planning and creating future projections.
For example, the text messages from Mali confirm that men and women have very different savings habits. Malian men are almost three times more likely to save on Saturdays than any other day of the week, usually buying vouchers at a myAgro store. They save in large quantities, with 20% of their savings in increments of over $20. Overall, they save four times as much as women. Women, on the other hand, save almost exclusively in small increments. They save throughout the week, but usually buy cards from their village vendor. They are most likely to visit the vendor either in the middle of the day, or at night, and are especially active between January and March. Our data proves that mobility, free time, and disposable income in rural Mali show differentiation dependant on gender roles.
This knowledge is a tool myAgro uses to strategize new ways of helping increase farmer savings. Our team can develop new ways to make savings more convenient for women, especially during the first few months of the year. At the same time, we can target the myAgro store advertisements towards men, encouraging them to save in larger installments.
Data is more than a list of thousands of farmers and tens of thousands of text messages. Analyzing our data helps us map people’s actions, understand our current programs, and improve farmer take-up of our program offerings.
