When you think about agricultural advances, you probably think better tools, better fertilizers, and better techniques. However, rural farmers often simply don’t know what technology is available to them, so communications are equally important in driving agricultural advancement.

Burkina NTIC is launching the first social media network to share best practices, pricing data, and other useful information among farmers in West Africa. Similar information and communication technology (ICT) initiatives have already shown great success; earlier this year a Malian farmer organization doubled its profits by using similar communication platforms.