A MOBILE APPLICATION THAT ASSISTS

FARMERS IN ADVERTISING AND SELLING

THEIR PRODUCE DIRECTLY TO BUYERS

By

YIGA FRANK

2019/BCS/066/PS

Bachelors degree of computer science

yfrank259@gmail.com, 0752189418

Supervisor

MR RICHARD NTWARI

Department of computer science

rntwari@must.ac.ug, 0782776696

A Project Report Submitted to the Faculty of Computing and Informatics for the

Study Leading to a Project in Partial Fulfillment of the requirements for the Award of

the Degree of Bachelor of computer science of Mbarara University of Science and

Technology

October, 2022

1
Declaration

I Yiga Frank, hereby declare that this report is a product of my original research effort
and is presented without hesitation for review. It was created in part fulfillment of the
requirements for the award of a degree in computer science at Mbarara University of
Science and Technology.
I also hereby state that this is my very own work and it has not been submitted to
any other institution for another degree or qualification. Throughout this work I have
acknowledged all sources used in its compilation.

Signature:

Yiga Frank

Date:

i
Approval

The research work culminating into this report was conducted under my guidance and
supervision.

Signature:

MR RICHARD NTWARI
Supervisor

Date:

ii
Acknowledgements

First and foremost, i thank the Almighty God for bringing us from nowhere to some-
where in our education, particularly during our time on campus. It has been a struggle,
but God has been with us, and our education truly is a great testimony that we will
live to tell.

Similarly, i would like to thank my supervisor, Mr. Ntwari Richard, for his patience and
unwavering support, for the time spent preparing this report, and for his guidance and
encouragement even when we felt inadequate. May the Almighty God continue to grant
you good health, more days in this world, and the ability to make it a better place.

I express my heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to our cherished parents, who consis-
tently assisted us financially and morally throughout our studies. Finally, we would like
to express our heartfelt gratitude to all of our dear beloved colleagues for their academic
and moral support throughout this final year research project and our entire time on
campus. It was not easy, but i made it with them; may the Almighty grant them good
health and prosperity until the end of their lives.

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Dedication

I’d like to dedicate this report to our family members, who helped us get this far by
providing financial, encouragement, and material support. I pray that the Almighty
God blesses them with good health and gives them a longer life. I also dedicate this
report to Mr Ntwari Richard, our final year research supervisor, who was always there
for us and willing to support us in times of need. I appreciate all of his help and guidance
during our final year research project. May the all-powerful God also grant him good
health and success in life.

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Abstract

This report provides a documentation history of the creation and development of the
Yifarm agriculture marketing mobile application. The application allowed farmers to
market their agricultural products by photographing and uploading them in order to
reach out to potential buyers. The application aided farmers in selling their produce
online, reducing the problem of insufficient market and wastage of produce that goes
bad before sale.

The application was created and tested using the prototype development methodology.
Once development was completed, farmers were recruited to use the application. At
random, five farmers and five traders were chosen. The participants were shown how to
use the application and given one day’s access to it. The accuracy of the application was
determined through real-time uploading and viewing of uploaded images of agricultural
products. Several buyers and traders in Mbarara town were interviewed, and their
responses revealed that the application correctly scored 9595% solution for agricultural
product marketing.

The findings suggest that using a system like the one developed in this study, problems
like inaccessibility to timely agricultural information, difficulties connecting farmers and
buyers, and difficulties forming cooperatives can be solved.

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Table of Contents

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3 Problem Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.4 Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.4.1 Main Objective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.4.2 Specific Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.5 Research Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.6 Project Significance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.6.1 Value Proposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.6.2 Innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.6.3 Impact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.6.4 Business Component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.7 Scope of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.7.1 Physical scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.7.2 Logical scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

2 Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2 Definition of the key terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.3 Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.4 Agricultural marketing systems in use today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.4.1 Social media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.4.2 QR codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.4.3 Mobile websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

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 2.4.4 Weaknesses of Mobile websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.4.5 Mobile applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.4.5.1 Weaknesses of existing Mobile applications . . . . . . . . 16
2.5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

3 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.1 Prototyping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.1.0.1 Prototyping Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.2 Need for Prototyping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.3 Why Prototyping methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.4 Concept Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.4.1 Requirement definition phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.4.2 Data Collection Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.4.3 Data collection instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.4.4 Observation/ Participation: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.4.5 Interviewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.4.6 Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.5 Design phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.6 Release Prototype . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.7 Customer Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.8 Limitation of the study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.9 Legal and ethical issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

4 System Development and Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.2 Requirements Identified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.2.1 User Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.2.2 Functional Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4.2.3 Non-Functional Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.2.3.1 Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.2.3.2 Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

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 4.2.3.3 Usability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.2.3.4 Scalability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.3 System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.3.1 Software Specification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.3.2 Languages Used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.3.3 System Flow Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.3.4 Data Flow Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.3.5 Physical database/system design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.4 User Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.4.1 Main Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.4.2 Sign Up Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4.4.3 Login Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
4.4.4 Product description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.4.5 Message layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.4.6 Categories layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.4.7 Sellers Profile layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
4.4.8 Farmer adding post into the application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
4.4.9 Farmer selecting his product location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

5 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
5.1 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
5.2 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
5.2.1 The positive implications of adopting Yifarm . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
5.2.2 The objectives realization in relation to the user requirements . . 44
5.3 Limitation of the system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5.4 Problems encountered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5.5 Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5.6 Areas for further study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

A Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

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List of Figures

3.1 Phases performed during design and development of Yifarm . . . . . . . 19

3.2 Agricultural day exhibition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

4.1 Flow Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

4.2 Data Flow Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.3 Database of the system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.4 Main Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.5 Sign-up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4.6 Login . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
4.7 Product description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.8 Chat room . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.9 Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.10 Sellers Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
4.11 Farmer adding post into the application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
4.12 Farmer chooses his product location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

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List of acronyms

FAO Food and Agriculture Organization

FY Financial year
GDP Gross Domestic product
GPS Global positioning system
MT metric tonnes
OS Operating system
QR Quick response
RQ Research Questions
SDLC Sytem Development Lifecycle
UNHS Uganda National Household Survey

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Chapter 1
Introduction

1.1 Introduction

This chapter gives a brief description of agriculture and the agriculture marketing ap-
plication, it’s definition and how it is working to exploit market for farmers.

Agriculture is the science or practice of farming, including cultivation of the soil for the
growing of crops and the rearing of animals to provide food, wool, and other products.
[32] Farming is growing crops and keeping animals for food and raw materials. [22]

Uganda being a landlocked country and having favorable conditions for agriculture,
most of the population is employed in agriculture. According to the Uganda National
Household Survey 2016/17, the bigger proportion of the working population is engaged
in agriculture, forestry and fishing 65%. Among the females in the working population,
70% are engaged in agriculture compared to 58% of the males. Furthermore, 38% of
persons in employment were in paid employment with a higher proportion of males 46%
compared to females 28% The Agricultural sector accounted for the largest share of
employment 36% [30]

Statistics shows that agriculture is the highest contributor to GDP at 24.9% in the
FY 2020/2021 compared to 23.7% in FY 2015/16. The food crop sub sector registered
the highest contribution within the agricultural sector of 13.6% in FY 20202/2021, an
increase from 12.1% in FY 2018/2019 [1]. Less agricultural marketing observed yet thus

1
would increase on the sells and minimize wastage’s.

Agricultural marketing is the study of all the activities, agencies and policies involved
in the procurement of farm inputs by the farmers and the movement of agricultural
products from the farms to the consumers. The agricultural marketing system is a link
between the farm and the non – farm sectors. It includes the organization of agricultural
raw materials supply to processing industries, the assessment of demand for farm inputs
and raw materials, and the policy relating to the marketing of farm products and inputs1.
And it also helps in the smooth flow of agricultural products from farmers to the buyers
or consumers. This type of marketing is more helpful to farmers in rural regions where
there are a lot of agricultural products but with a small market than in metropolitan
areas where there is a lot of demand for these commodities. [23]

Different technologies have been used to promote agriculture such as social media plat-
forms like Facebook, whats-app, websites, cooperatives . With the existing technology
and existing ways of marketing agricultural products being backward. The research
explores the use of mobile application. The evolution of the Internet has sparked the de-
velopment of mobile applications to solve diverse problems in rural communities through
online connectivity, removing the limitations of time and distance to market centers. [39]

Mobile applications are consist of software/set of program that runs on a mobile device
and perform certain tasks for the user. Mobile application is a new and fast developing
Segment of the global Information and Communication Technology. Mobile application
is easy, user friendly, inexpensive, downloadable and run able in most of the mobile
phone including inexpensive and entry level phone. The mobile application has wide uses
for its vast functioning area like calling, messaging, browsing, chatting, social network
communication, audio, video, game etc In large number of mobile application some
are pre-installed in phone and others user can download from internet and install it in
mobile phone. This large number of mobile application market served by increasing no

2
of mobile application developer, publishers and providers. From the technical point of
view the different mobile applications are run able in different managed platforms like
iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Symbian, windows; also some virtual machine such as
Java/J2ME, BREW, Flash Light, Silverlight. [13]

It can be installed on different types of operating system like android, ios, Windows
phone OS, and Symbian . An OS is a software interface that is responsible for managing
and operating hardware units and assisting the user to use those units. For mobile
phones, OSs have been developed to enable users to use phones in much the same
way as personal computers were used 1 or 2 decades ago. The market share ratios of
those OSs are Android 47.51%, iOS 41.97%, Symbian 3.31%, and Windows phone OS
2.57%. [10]

Android Operating System Android is an open-source mobile OS developed by Google

and launched in 2008 . Android is a Linux-based OS that uses Linux 2.6 to provide core
services such as security, memory management, process management, network stack, and
a driver model. It offers a wide range of libraries that enable the app developers to build
different applications. Android applications are usually written in Java programming
language [10].

Apple iOS Apple iOS is a closed-source code mobile phone OS developed by Apple in
2007; it is used by Apple-only products (iPhone, iPod, and iPad). The iOS architecture
is based on three layers incorporated with each other. Cocoa touch is a layer that
provides some basic infrastructure used by applications. The second layer is the media
layer, which provides audio services, animation video, image formats, and documents
in addition to providing two-dimensional (2D) and 3D drawings and audio and video
support. The third layer is the core OS, which provides core services such as low-level
data types, start-up services, network connection, and access [10].

3
Symbian Operating System Symbian OS is an open-source mobile OS written in C++
programming language developed by Symbian Ltd. in 1977; it is mostly used by Nokia
phones. Symbian OS consists of multiple layers such as OS libraries, application engines,
MKV, servers, Base-kernel, and hardware interface layer. Symbian was the most preva-
lent mobile device OS until 2010, when it was taken over by Android. [10] Windows
Phone Operating System Windows phone OS is a closed-source code mobile OS de-
veloped by Microsoft Corporation and used by multiple smart devices (personal digital
assistants, smartphones, and touch devices). Windows phone OS is based on a compact
version of .Net framework, which gives it an advantage in developing .Net-oriented mo-
bile applications . [10] This study is based on mobile applications because it is the most
commonly used mobile applications.

Uganda produces a wide range of agricultural products including: cash crops and food
crops, Plantation Crops, Horticulture crops.Cash crops are agricultural crops that are
planted for the purpose of selling on the market or for export to make profit. Such
as Sugarcane, Tobacco, Cotton, Jute and Oil seeds. Food crops are subsistence crops
that are meant for human consumption. They include fruits, vegetables, grains, and
tubers, like potatoes. Grains, which include crops like wheat, rice, and corn. Plantation
crops are those which are cultivated on extensive scale like tea, coffee and rubber .
Horticultural crops means crops intended for human consumption, including vegetables,
fruits, and herbs. Cereal crops grown in Uganda include; maize, finger millet, sorghum,
rice, pearl millet and wheat in that order of importance. Other than wheat, these crops
provide staple food for well over 50% of the population. [15]

Because of the specific qualities of most agricultural products, agriculture product mar-
keting is rather distinctive. These qualities include:

a). Perishability: Agricultural products have a short shelf life. Vegetables cannot be
stored for more than 3 days after harvesting unless they are frozen or dried. Because

4
they must reach the final consumer as soon as possible, this feature raises marketing
costs.

b).Seasonality: Agricultural products are seasonal, whereas demand for them is fairly
stable throughout the year. It is the function of marketing to ensure that the seasonal
agricultural products are available throughout the year.

c). Bulkiness: Agricultural products are very bulky due to their high water content .For
them to attract high values they have to be processed to reduce water content before
they are marketed. Examples of bulky agricultural products are cassava, sugar cane,
water melon.

Products are sold in various ways. For example, it might be sold at a weekly village
market in the farmer’s village or in a neighboring village. [25] If these outlets are not
accessible, vegetables may be sold at impromptu marketplaces in a nearby community.
So it has become a difficulty for farmers while marketing their goods, so a technological
built application to simplify marketing by quick uploading of agricultural produce with
ease from different places that is efficient and non-time consuming has been created.

1.2 Background

Agriculture is believed to be the world’s largest industry as it employs more than one bil-
lion people and generates over $ 1.3 trillion dollars, [20]. In many developing countries,
agriculture is being viewed as a major contributor to social and economic development
given that it is the major contributor to economic growth and stability [5]. Most devel-
oping countries for instance in Africa produce a wide variety of agricultural and food
products such as maize, beans, cassava, sweet potatoes, irish potatoes, ground nuts,
soya beans, sunflowers, coffee, tea, green vegetables, flowers, fruits, as well as livestock.

5
Hence there has been an increase in the total agricultural production in for instance
in East Africa and South Africa from 47% and 55%in the 1960’s to 110% and 105%
respectively [31]. Agriculture is also viewed as a great contributor towards reduction of
poverty and hunger by 2030 in many developing countries as stated in the Sustainable
development Goals of the United Nations [18]. Thus, sustainable poverty reduction can
be possible through economic growth and development strategies with agriculture being
a key driver [4]. In Uganda, agriculture is viewed as the most important sector in the
economy with a contribution of up to 20% to the GDP and 70% of the national popu-
lation being employed in the sector both formally and informally and it is also seen as
a contributor towards the reduction of poverty levels among the rural poor [3]. Thus,
improvement in the performance of agriculture is said to bring about an improvement
in farmers’ livelihood as well as the economic growth, hence alleviating poverty levels in
Uganda [21]. Despite its benefits, low agricultural productivity is being reported yet over
70households in Uganda are engaged in Agricultural production for either domestic or
commercial purposes [3]. his can therefore affect the efforts to fight poverty and achieve
the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of eradicating extreme hunger in
developing countries like Uganda. Low agricultural productivity has been attributed to
several agricultural marketing constraints which in turn affects the productivity of the
farmers as well as agriculture production [7]. My case study area is Mbarara

6
1.3 Problem Statement

Poor agricultural marketing is one of the major constraints to agricultural growth at the
level of smallholder maize producers. This has resulted in significant losses in both grain
and the resources spent in its production, denying smallholder maize farmers in devel-
oping countries the opportunity to be food and financially secure. Smallholder maize
farmers have been identified as vital partners in considerably increasing the revenue of
many developing nations. [28]

Low productivity has resulted from a lack of information on market areas where one
can sell his commodities or purchase the necessary equipment for better agricultural
production.

1.4 Objectives

1.4.1 Main Objective

The main goal was to develop a mobile app for marketing agricultural products by
providing a platform for farmers to sell their produce.

1.4.2 Specific Objectives

(i) To examine existing methods used by different farmers in relation to market their
produce.

(ii) To design and develop a mobile application that can allow uploading and viewing
images of products by different farmers and viewing images by different farmers.

(iii) Test and validate the mobile application

7
1.5 Research Questions

(i) RQ1:To examine the existing systems or methods used by farmers to sell their
maize

(ii) RQ2: What requirements are needed to develop a mobile application for selling
maize

(iii) RQ3:What can be done to develop a usable user interface design

(iv) RQ4:How best can the existing marketing methods being used be inter-grated or
modified with technology to meet the farming needs.

(v) RQ5:Where do farmers sell their produce.

1.6 Project Significance

The application will generate more information to the already existing services, methods.
technology of knowledge used in the area of reducing the problem of market by farmers.

The application will raise our confidence, improve our learning skills, and provide us
with knowledge that we can apply in real-world circumstances. It will provide men-
tor participation and connection experience. Easily understand the basis underlying
global agricultural problems, leading to a greater understanding of and appreciation for
information technology in tackling global agricultural problems.

1.6.1 Value Proposition

Increased product awareness encourages specialization, resulting in increased profit max-

imization. A mobile app user can also operate as a middleman for small scale farmers

8
and farmers who are technologically illiterate, in which case they can request him to
take images and upload them on the platform where market can be obtained.

1.6.2 Innovation

Farmers lack knowledge about existing possible buyers, according to what is happening
in the field of farming, but our application will bring a system of farmers getting to
know potential buyers around as goods are placed online ready for sale. Sellers can also
meet other sellers, and buyers can communicate with other purchasers.

1.6.3 Impact

Following completion, the application aided in increasing product output, resulting in

increased revenues, improved record keeping, and secure payment methods.

1.6.4 Business Component

By charging a commission on both online payments and any business transactions con-
ducted on the platform, such as advertisements, farmers and business owners will be
able to sell their wares.

Farmers and agricultural buyers will be able to download and use the app for free from
the Google PlayStore. Many people will be able to download this application due to the
current surge in smartphone use, and the more downloads we receive, the more money
we make.

Another business model is to collect data for various farmers within the application,
such as location, using data mining, and then sell it to the government.

9
1.7 Scope of the Study

1.7.1 Physical scope

Farmers who farm on a large and small scale, as well as business people who sell agri-
cultural products, used the application developed.

1.7.2 Logical scope

Farmers benefited from the application. Farmers were able to predict which corn variety
would be in high demand. so that they can plant in response to market demand the
following season

10
Chapter 2
Literature Review

2.1 Introduction

This chapter reviews elated literature regarding agriculture marketing application. The
section will proceed with description of topical terms in section 2.1: section 2.2 shall
describe agriculture marketing application and review of the literature related.

2.2 Definition of the key terms

Perishable agricultural crops: These are agricultural products that, due to inherent
qualities or dependence on soil or weather conditions, mature, decompose, decay, or de-
teriorate, undergoing material changes of form and quality that render them unsuitable
for the use for which they were produced [17].

A mobile app: This a software application developed specifically for use on small,
wireless computing devices, such as smartphones and tablets, rather than desktop or
laptop computers [29].

A market: This refers to the total number of buyers and sellers in the area or region un-
der consideration. The area could be the entire planet, or it could be countries, regions,
states, or cities. The value, cost, and price of items traded in a market are determined
by the forces of supply and demand. It can also be defined as a location where goods

11
and services are exchanged. However, whatever point or location is designated as a
market, it is concerned with the promotion, sale, and trading of goods/products and
services [6].

Agricultural marketing: This covers the services involved in moving an agricultural

product from the farm to the consumer. These services involve the planning, organizing,
directing and handling of agricultural produce in such a way as to satisfy farmers,
intermediaries and consumers [8].

2.3 Literature Review

Agricultural products travel from farmers to producers via a variety of routes and market
channels. Farmers market perishable goods directly to potential buyers right away from
their farms. Milk, fruits, and vegetables frequently pass through wholesale markets
before being sold to food service operators or retail stores [14].

However, some are also sold directly to retailers by packing houses. Processed agricul-
tural products are distributed through a variety of third-party wholesalers and broad-
line food service distributors, but they are also distributed directly from processors to
retailers [19]. Many other agricultural produce types, such as sweet potatoes and ma-
tooke, continue to travel from farming areas to packing centers where products are sized,
sorted, and loaded. Over-the-road trailer trucks are typically used to transport goods
to retailers, wholesalers/terminal markets, farm markets, or export markets.

Since the early 1990s, when agricultural markets in Uganda were liberalized, the cooper-
ative sector has been undergoing a dynamic process of rehabilitation and restructuring
in order to adapt to the conditions of a liberalized economy.

The previous cooperative structure had been vertical and hierarchical, with farmers

12
at the lowest level sending their produce to primary societies, which then sent it to
unions. The unions delivered the produce to marketing boards, which were in charge
of finding export markets for it. Following liberalization, a new cooperative marketing
model emerged

Other traders entered the markets, competing with the unions for farmers’ produce for
marketing. As a result, the unions’ produce supply was reduced, and their business
operations proved unprofitable. The marketing boards became non - functional and
eventually disintegrated.

2.4 Agricultural marketing systems in use today

2.4.1 Social media

Social media refers to a computer-based technology that facilitates the sharing of ideas,
thoughts, and information through virtual networks and communities. [33]such as per-
sonal information, documents, videos, and photos. Social media enable people to create,
publish, share, collaborate, discuss and network through a wide range of new, mainly
digital, formats and platforms. Different types of Social media: Microblogs (Twitter),
Conversational threads, Social Photos, Social Networking (Facebook, LinkedIn), Video
Sharing (YouTube), Blogs like Mkulima.

2.4.2 QR codes

QR (Quick Response) codes are a common sight in today’s technologically driven world,
and they are particularly used in the business and marketing sectors. These codes are

13
used often by marketers to connect buyers to online information about their products.
The information behind the code is accessed using a smartphone device [16]. Those
little black-and-white boxes are everywhere these days. QR (quick response) codes can
be scanned with a smartphone or tablet, leading you to a website, providing contact
information, launching an app, or sending a message.

2.4.3 Mobile websites

Gathering a strong email list should be a big goal for your website. If you can regularly
send updates on your crops, and public appearances, you will draw that many more
customers to your products. Nobody can visit your farmland if they don’t know where
it will be and when. Social proof You can tell people how great your produce is, but
eventually, you will need to show them. Websites help to convey transparency, provide
a place to spotlight customers and products, and for customers to advocate for your
garden [9]. Examples of mobile websites include Jaguza Farm, Agro Supply, Agri Net.

2.4.4 Weaknesses of Mobile websites

Promotion: Attracting Customers How will consumers know of your online store? For
both new and prospective customers, you’ll need to ensure an optimized web presence
with a strategy for driving consumers from social media, email, and other promotions
to your website and online store.

Customer Connections and Experience. Relationships are incredibly important to farm

businesses and customers alike. Developing a connection with the farms and farmers
that they’re purchasing from through the ability to come to your location and experience
of interacting with you and the farm environment is a primary driver for many people
and can be difficult to replicate in an online environment.

14
Time Requirement. Implementing e-commerce is a time intensive endeavor. From the
time to research and assess e-commerce options for fit with your business model and
products, to set-up time, to routine maintenance, there will be an additional time in-
vestment. Do you have the time and skills, or will you need to hire or recruit assistance?
Assess this just as you would for assessing the time requirements for a new in-person
market outlet such as a farmers’ market.

Technical Management and Support. E-commerce requires technical knowledge about

the platform you’re using as well as any interconnected systems (inventory management,
accounting, etc.) that have been put in place. Just as with the time component, you’ll
need to either have or develop these skills or hire someone that does.

Consumer Product Uncertainly. Seeing products in person provides a different expe-

rience to the consumer; and whether at an on-farm market, farmers’ market, or other
events, you have the ability to influence a consumer’s purchase decision through per-
sonal engagement, samples, or other activities. In an online format, these activities are
unavailable leaving you to rely on photos, detailed descriptions, customer reviews, and
your reputation.

2.4.5 Mobile applications

A mobile app is a software application developed specifically for use on small, wireless
computing devices, such as smartphones and tablets, rather than desktop or laptop
computers [27]. Examples of agricultural mobile applications include Mkulima, Jaguza
Ug, Enzy agric.

15
2.4.5.1 Weaknesses of existing Mobile applications

With the diversity in languages, even if the best of the applications do not support
regional languages then translation will be required at all stages which will increase the
dependency and in turn reduce the acceptability and popularity [27]. At times, due to
network issues, speed of the data delivery, legal restrictions, it might prevent the farmers
by getting the updated and complete information.

There may be a requirement of a skilled person to understand and translate the various
complex functions to be performed on the farm, ambiguous information and videos in
other languages.

The farmers in the developing nations may not be adequately equipped to afford and
use the applications which may be chargeable and also require huge data usage thereby
levying the network charges on the burdened shoulders of the farmer.

2.5 Conclusion

The current agricultural marketing systems are based on flaws like cart fragmentation,
and agricultural marketing mobile applications in particular are based on these flaws. As
a result, the system ultimately takes a percentage of revenue from both the farmer and
the seller. I developed Yifarm so that farmers could upload photos of there agricultural
produce. This helped them connect to buyers directly. This enabled customers to deal
directly with farmers, obtain fresh goods, and cut out middlemen.

16
Chapter 3
Methodology

Methodology in research is defined as the systematic method to resolve a research prob-

lem through data gathering using various techniques, providing an interpretation of
data gathered and drawing conclusions about the research data. Essentially, a research
methodology is the blueprint of a research [11]. One of the system development life cycle
models is of particular relevance to us. I intend to employ the prototyping methodology
for my project.

3.1 Prototyping

3.1.0.1 Prototyping Model

It refers to the activity of creating prototypes of software applications, for example,

incomplete versions of the software program being developed. It is an activity that can
occur in software development and It used to visualize some components of the software
to limit the gap of misunderstanding the customer requirements by the development
team. This also will reduce the iterations that may occur in the waterfall approach and
are hard to be implemented due to the inflexibility of the waterfall approach. So, when
the final prototype is developed, the requirement is considered to be frozen [24].

17
3.2 Need for Prototyping

(i) Increased user involvement in the product even before its implementation

(ii) Since a working model of the system is displayed, the users get a better under-
standing of the system being developed.

(iii) Reduces time and cost as the defects can be detected much earlier.

(iv) Quicker user feedback is available leading to better solutions.

(v) Missing functionality can be identified easily.

(vi) Confusing or difficult functions can be identified.

3.3 Why Prototyping methodology

• Prototyping ensures that the end users constantly work with the system and provide
a feedback which is incorporated in the prototype to result in a usable system. They
are excellent for designing good human computer interface systems

• Increases the chance of having the client satisfied with the working system

• This model increases the chance of having the client satisfied with the working system

• Gaining positive impression from the target market

18
 Fig. 3.1: Phases performed during design and development of Yifarm

3.4 Concept Phase

This stage involved identifying the problem to be solved, which was identified as poor
agricultural product marketing.

19
3.4.1 Requirement definition phase

During this phase, the requirements needed to be met were defined. A list of hardware
and software, such as Android Studio

3.4.2 Data Collection Procedure

To obtain reliable information, I used the following procedures during data collection.
I attended the agricultural day exhibition on September 23rd at the pitch (MUST play
ground) and was able to approach various farmers and learn about the difficulties they
face in marketing their agricultural produce. In order to obtain reliable data about
irregularities in the current manual system in use, interviews were conducted.

20
 Fig. 3.2: Agricultural day exhibition

The existing manual system was studied and evaluated using data collection techniques
to identify inefficiencies, and the following data collection techniques were used:

21
3.4.3 Data collection instruments

Here, I used my phone cameras to take photos in order to collect data from the respon-
dents. Questionnaires were also used for the respondents to answer questions about
the current system’s performance and to collect system requirements. The respondents
provided feedback on the current system’s ability to provide clear requirements. Partic-
ipatory observation was also used to learn how the current system worked; this had to
paint a very accurate picture of the situation on the ground so that it could be improved.

3.4.4 Observation/ Participation:

Observation, as the name implies, is a way of collecting data through observing. This
data collection method is classified as a participatory study, because the researcher has
to immerse herself in the setting where her respondents are, while taking notes and/or
recording. Observation data collection method may involve watching, listening, reading,
touching, and recording behavior and characteristics of phenomena [26]

Participatory observation was also used to learn how the current marketing system
system worked; this had to paint a very accurate picture of the situation on the ground
so that it could be improved.

3.4.5 Interviewing

The interview method of data collection involves the researcher conducting direct per-
sonal interviews in order to collect data from the respondents. Since the researcher
must personally interview each subject, this method is suitable only when dealing with
a small group of respondents [2].

We used an interview guide before conducting interviews to direct us to the topics and

22
issues that our end users desired. They assisted us in determining what questions to
ask and in what order, how to pose the questions and follow-ups, and more importantly,
what to do after the interview.

3.4.6 Questionnaire

A questionnaire is a list of questions or items used to gather data from respondents about
their attitudes, experiences, or opinions. Questionnaires can be used to collect quan-
titative and/or qualitative information. Questionnaires are commonly used in market
research as well as in the social and health sciences [38].

In this case, questionnaires were printed and distributed to scheme members in order
for them to provide feedback on what they expected from the proposed system. They
were concise in order to reflect the expense of their development and distribution.

3.5 Design phase

At this stage, I coded the application and created a normalized database with a front
end that was properly linked to the database to improve user-friendly interactivity. My
supervisor, Mr. Ntwari Richard, was shown this executable.

3.6 Release Prototype

At this phase, I took the application that I had partially developed and distributed it
to various buyers and sellers of agricultural products for evaluation.

23
3.7 Customer Review

This stage entailed testing and evaluating the application with the customer to ensure
that it met their requirements. Our applications fulfilled the requirements, and we
implemented them.

3.8 Limitation of the study

Some of the limitations of the proposed system that I implemented were as follows:

Time constraint: The time allotted by the Institute of Computer Science to students
for final year research project development was insufficient for resource organization and
system implementation to meet all requirements and project stakeholders.

Financial limitation: This is because all project implementations required financial

resources/materials such as purchasing data and transportation to the field, and because
we are students, financial constraints were a stumbling block to the project’s effective
implementation.

3.9 Legal and ethical issues

We emphasize that the security of this application is paramount, and as a result, farmers
who signed up for the application should keep their usernames and passwords guarded
and kept as a top secret among users, because acquisition of these control tools by a
malicious individual may result in a breach in application functionality and the output
of false information results.

24
Chapter 4
System Development and
Implementation

4.1 Introduction

This chapter looks at how the application works from the time the user logs in to
the time he logs out. This section provides an overview of the entire system in terms
of system functionality and implementations. Graphical user interfaces and graphical
database designs, as well as new system flow charts and data flow diagrams, are used
to depict the newly developed system. The user interfaces include a variety of windows
that allow the user to interact with the system.

4.2 Requirements Identified

4.2.1 User Requirements

The User Requirements Specification describes the business needs for what users require
from the system [36]. Farmers who register with the application are given access. Fol-
lowing registration, a profile interface will show up where users can log in using their
email address and password. When a new profile interface loads, they can upload their
profile pictures to finish the registration process. Then, a different interface will show up
so they can post their products. Farmers can also view the content that other farmers

25
have posted on the app. A farmer can sell his products as well, and he can also buy
goods from other farmers after seeing their wares. Farmers can communicate with other
farmers using the application about the products they have uploaded. The purpose of
this was to start a conversation between the buyer and seller. This chat feature also
enables customers to bargain with farmers.

4.2.2 Functional Requirements

It speaks of the new system’s intended behavior. The following are the functional re-
quirements for our application, which can be expressed as the services, tasks, or functions
the application must carry out [34].

(i) The application was supposed provide users with a platform to upload their agri-
cultural products and provide description of the products uploaded to the system.

(ii) The application was supposed provide users with a platform to set price for their
products, category, and location of the products uploaded to the system.

(iii) The application had to handle all the products uploaded by the farmers

(iv) The had to provide a chat room to farmers and sellers with in the application

(v) The application had to allow to display farmers information like phone number,
profile image, username and his products uploaded to the system.

(vi) Sellers were permitted by the application to remove their out-of-stock products.

(vii) Sellers could view their own uploaded products in the application’s account profile
section.

26
4.2.3 Non-Functional Requirements

Nonfunctional Requirements (NFRs) define system attributes such as security, reliabil-

ity, performance, maintainability, scalability, and usability. They serve as constraints or
restrictions on the design of the system across the different backlogs [37].

4.2.3.1 Security

(i) In order to access a chat room within the application, you must first create an
account.

(ii) A seller must first create an account in order to sell his or her products within the
application.

(iii) Other people are unable to access information from the farmer and buyer’s chat-
room.

(iv) The application asks the user for permission to access his gallery so that he can
upload images to the system.

4.2.3.2 Performance

Performance is an indicator of how well a software system or component meets its re-
quirements for timeliness. Timeliness is measured in terms of response time or through-
put [35]. The response time is the time required to respond to a request. It may be the
time required for a single transaction, or the end-to-end time for a user task.

(i) The application can handle multiple tasks at once.

(ii) The application responds quickly to user requests.

27
4.2.3.3 Usability

Usability is a controlled aspect of User Experience design that ensures the end-user
doesn’t strain or encounter problems with the use of a product or website’s user inter-
face. A user experience designer can control accessibility, user interface, information
architecture and usability to suit the uncontrolled aspects like goals, user lifestyle and
habits [12].

(i) The system is simple for its users to use.

(ii) Users can perform tasks quickly through the easiest process.

(iii) It supports users in completing actions accurately

(iv) It supports a range of user actions and only shows an error in genuine erroneous
situations.

4.2.3.4 Scalability

Scalability is the ability of a system to continue to meet its response time or throughput
objectives as the demand for the software functions increases [35]

(i) Despite the increased number of users, the application continues to respond quickly.
.

28
4.3 System Requirements

4.3.1 Software Specification

The following hardware specifications were used because they are the least affordable
and the system has been tested on them as per the results in the data output section.
The specifications are shown in the table below;
Hardware Minimum System Requirements

Android version 5.1 and above

RAM 512 MB

Internal Storage Space 4GB

4.3.2 Languages Used

The Android app was created in Java using Android Studio. The layout of the android
application design was created in Figma and then converted into an application using
xml and some custom fonts and icons.

The primary color of the mobile application was chosen to be green because agriculture
is always associated with green elements.

I named it Yifarm because it deals with agricultural marketing, so I combined my names

Yiga Frank and agricultural marketing.

29
This is how my system flows

4.3.3 System Flow Chart

Fig. 4.1: Flow Chart

30
This is how data flows in my application(Yifarm)

4.3.4 Data Flow Diagram

Fig. 4.2: Data Flow Diagram

31
4.3.5 Physical database/system design

The logical plan was transformed into a feasible implementation plan during the physical
design of the database, where each table was defined along with the relevant data types,
primary keys, foreign keys, and unique keys. In this regard, the system was created,
and it is this database that houses various tables in which various data is stored. The
physical structures of the various tables designed to hold various types of data are shown
below. The database with different tables showing the summary of the system physical
database is shown below.

Fig. 4.3: Database of the system

32
4.4 User Interfaces

This is an overview of the application’s general structure, taking into account users,
resources, and system functionality. The application has a home page from which the
user can begin interacting with the application.

33
4.4.1 Main Screen

This is the main layout of the application, taking into account users, resources, and sys-
tem functionality. The application has a main page where the user can start interacting
with it.

Fig. 4.4: Main Screen

34
4.4.2 Sign Up Screen

Users must sign up for the application in order for it to save their information and
provide them with full access to the application’s services.

Fig. 4.5: Sign-up

35
4.4.3 Login Screen

Users must log in to the application using the saved information to gain full access to
the application’s services.

Fig. 4.6: Login

36
4.4.4 Product description

A buyer will be able to view the product description after tapping on the product on
the main screen. He’ll either chat or call the farmer/seller and connect.

Fig. 4.7: Product description

37
4.4.5 Message layout

After tapping on the product on the main screen, buyers and sellers will connect and
bargain via the chat section. They will be provided with a chat room within the appli-
cation.

Fig. 4.8: Chat room

38
4.4.6 Categories layout

Products will be classified as Farm Market Place or Food Market Place. A seller can
search by category within the application for quick product access.

Fig. 4.9: Categories

39
4.4.7 Sellers Profile layout

The layout of the seller’s profile shows his products with in application, profile image,
name, and contact information.

Fig. 4.10: Sellers Profile

40
4.4.8 Farmer adding post into the application

Before adding a product to the application, a farmer will be asked to select a category
for his product and upload images for the product, which must be no more than four
images. Product title, product description, commodity location, and price

Fig. 4.11: Farmer adding post into the application

41
4.4.9 Farmer selecting his product location

When adding a product to the system, the farmer must enter the product location.

Fig. 4.12: Farmer chooses his product location

42
Chapter 5
Discussion

5.1 Summary

The application is simple to implement, and now that it is, farmers (buyers) will have
real-time information and specific locations of different farmers, boosting marketing,
while the chat feature will motivate and stabilize communication problems because many
farmers or buyers lack information about the locations of different farmers dealing in
various agricultural products. Everything in the business world is designed to be efficient
and cost effective.

5.2 Conclusion

Farmers and buyers have been confronted with issues such as the inaccessibility of
timely agricultural information, such as marketing where they can sell or buy their
commodities, difficulties in connecting farmers and buyers, resulting in a lot of waste of
commodities that go bad before they can be sold, and farmer frustration, forming coop-
erative difficulties, and in this research, we as researchers have designed and developed
an app.

(a).Presentation of results on objective 1

Farmers were recruited to use the application once development was completed. Five

43
farmers were chosen at random. The participants were taught how to use the application
and given access to it for two days. Messages sent by users and responses sent by users
were used to assess the system’s accuracy. The participants were interviewed, and
the system correctly scored 95% of their responses to their challenges in agricultural
marketing marketing.

(b).Presentation of results on objective 2

I developed Yifarm AGRICULTURAL MARKETING APP, which was intended to help

farmers both smallholder and large scale farmers to sell there agricultural products
farmers and would receive real-time marketing information faster and more accurately.

(c).Presentation of results on objective 3

At this stage, I took the application that I had partially developed and distributed it to
various buyers and sellers of agricultural products for evaluation.

5.2.1 The positive implications of adopting Yifarm

In conclusion, the application developed will assist farmers in receiving real-time mar-
keting information more quickly and correctly, allowing farmers to sell their products
on time.

5.2.2 The objectives realization in relation to the user requirements

Using this application, farmers will have easier access to timely agricultural information,
and farmers will be connected to buyers in various locations via an easy and simple user
interface.

44
5.3 Limitation of the system

(i) It does not cover all aspects of agriculture (covers only agricultural crops and
selling eggs )

(ii) Currently it does not cater for the blind people who cannot read plain text.

(iii) It is also not having any constraints for payment at the moment.

5.4 Problems encountered

(i) During the design and development of this project, we ran into a number of issues
that caused the entire process to be delayed, such as gradle failing to detect some
dependencies in Android Studio.

(ii) When I tried to add new features, such as payment features, I encountered errors.

(iii) Working with a lot of new equipment that we were unfamiliar with necessitated
extensive research on the equipment to use, even when researching the project.

(iv) Learning new things, particularly for the chat section, as I attempted to implement
them also contributed to the project’s delay in completion.

(v) Balancing project work with tests and assignments from other course units, as well
as their other personal problems, was a challenge.

5.5 Recommendations

Agriculture-related research and education should be prioritized by the government.

Trade policies should be designed to promote long-term agricultural growth and protect

45
agricultural markets.

We also recommend that the university, specifically the department of computer science,
devote more time to system design and report writing rather than the concept paper
and proposal writing. Mock defenses should be held in semester one so that students
can incorporate new features suggested by the panelists, and final presentations should
be held following end-of-semester exams.

5.6 Areas for further study

To incorporate Google Maps in order to track the locations of various cooperatives

registered in the system and to allow people to see the actual farms.

To broaden the system to include additional crops, livestock, and birds that are currently
excluded, as well as to cover the entire country or East Africa.

Include SMS in the application to improve real-time notification of new products up-
loaded to the application on client phones.

To include online payment modes when buyers purchase stock from farmers, such as
mobile money or visa cards, among others.

46
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Appendix A
Appendices

I began this project in January by collecting data, and then I wrote my proposal. I was
able to finish it in October 2022.

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