This content is provided courtesy of the MIT students listed in the Project Team table, and is used with permission.
About
Most of the Zacatecas State of Mexico has semi-desert terrain, coupled with low per capita income. Despite its dry climate, agriculture is a key economic driver. Zacatecas produces more beans, chili peppers and nopales than any other state, and is a major producer of agave, grapes, jicima, peaches, and tomatoes.
The farmers lack communication between their rural communities and cannot establish equitable pricing, let alone have access to distribution or storage centers. As a result, they are at the mercy of middlemen who pay next to nothing for produce, and these communities remain locked in a poverty cycle.
The objective is to enable farmers to communicate (and thus present a united front) that will enable them to escape the endless cycle of rural poverty that in turn accelerates the de-population of the countryside (Zacatecas sends more immigrants to the US than any other Mexican state).
The description is to use peer-to-peer mobile technologies (cell phones) - easily adopted, understood, replicated, and maintained - in a rural area, and whose deployment will enable farmers to communicate and collaborate so that they, not the middlemen, can determine fair prices for their crops and ensure a marginally better economic (and socially cohesive) future.
Partners
ITESM (Tecnológico de Monterrey), Zacatecas, Mexico
Project Team
| ROLES | TEAM MEMBERS |
|---|---|
| Students |
Scot Frank M. Eshan Hoque & two anonymous MIT students |
|
Video journalists (from Emerson College) |
Luke Einsiedler Paul Moore |
| Advisor | Esmerelda Megally |
Project Documentation
The links in this table go to individual webpages containing videos, along with supporting materials like presentation slides where available. You can navigate through these pages in sequence using the links on the top of each page.
| VIDEOS AND SLIDES |
|---|
| FINAL PROJECT |
| Final Presentation: Giving Farmers a Fighting Chance: Transforming the Rural Economy in Zacatecas, Mexico through Mobile Technology |
| MILESTONE PRESENTATIONS |
| Milestone 2: Needs Assessment Giving Farmers a Fighting Chance: Transforming the Rural Economy in Zacatecas through Mobile Technology |
