Abstract:
This paper presents the design and implementation of an e-trading system for
vegetables and fruits farmers in Sri Lanka to maximize the product distribution and yields
gain by directly liaising with the buyers for the sale of their products at completive prices.
The system under discussion is about enabling the local farmers to use mobile and
internet technologies to trade in their products in place of the conventional buyer -seller
interactions. The proposed system is based on a typical commodities trading system
where the farmer advertises his products and the buyer then directly negotiates with the
farmer concerned and the related transactional activities which would take place from
this point onwards. The paper discusses in detail how a system of this nature could be
implemented in the local context, its benefits and the suitable technical infrastructure
which is needed for its successful implementation.
The paper extensively discusses newer and emerging mobile internet technologies that
could be effectively deployed in a developing country for benefit of the local farming
community and in general the infrastructural developments which would take place as a
result of successful implementation of the system described in the paper.
The e-trading system typically revolves around a client-server architecture. The web
based interface is primarily targeted towards the trader. However, a Sinhala native
language web interface too has been designed for the farmer, so that he would have an
auxiliary interface to the system if the mobile application interface was found to be too
difficult to use.
With the present e-Sri Lanka initiative and the propagation of ICT know-how in rural
areas of Sri Lanka, the authors envisage a highly mature robust system could be
evolved from the proposed system in order to cater to the local situation which, in turn
would open up employment opportunities as well.
