Development of an SMS-Based Market Price Information System for Traders in Kogi State

Market traders in rural and peri-urban areas of Kogi State lack timely access to commodity price information, leading to suboptimal pricing decisions and market inefficiencies. This study describes the development of an SMS-based market price information system for traders in Kogi State, North Central Nigeria. The system leverages an SMS gateway (Africa's Talking API) integrated with a Python-based backend and SQLite database. Market monitors in Lokoja, Idah, and Okene enter commodity prices into a simple web dashboard, and traders subscribe to receive daily price bulletins for selected commodities by sending keyword SMS commands. The system supports 20 commodities across seven market categories. Development followed the Rapid Application Development model with three prototyping cycles. Field testing involved 80 traders at three major markets over a four-week period. Traders registered subscriptions by sending an SMS keyword to the system's short code. Message delivery rates across Airtel, MTN, and Glo networks averaged 97.4 percent. Post-testing surveys revealed that 82 percent of participating traders made at least one pricing decision informed by the SMS bulletin during the testing period, and 70 percent reported increased confidence in price negotiations. The study concludes that SMS-based information systems remain a highly accessible channel for economic empowerment in low-connectivity Nigerian markets and recommends integration with the Kogi State Ministry of Commerce's market data infrastructure.

Keywords: SMS information system, market prices, traders, Kogi State, rural commerce