Unctad stresses better use of cell phone to cut poverty

Better use of mobile phones can help countries like Bangladesh to fight against poverty and empower poor men and women, said a major report launched globally yesterday.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad ) in its report titled “Information Economy Report 2010: ICTs, Enterprises and Poverty Alleviation” has recognised Bangladesh's achievement in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector.
The Untad has been launching such report since 2005, but Bangladesh is included for the first time.
The report lauded Bangladesh for its success in the mobile phone coverage in terms of population and territory and a relatively faster penetration and lower call-charges than many countries.
Local officials of Unctad and Katalyst launched the report at the Dhaka Reporters Unity office .The focus of this year's report is poverty reduction through the use of ICT.
It said poor people often lack access to vital information such as market price information, income-earning opportunities, weather forecasts, use of pesticides and fertilisers, health and disaster risk reduction.
The IER recognised Bangladesh's two initiatives one by Banglalink and another by Grameenphone to help rural farmers know the inputs required and the market prices of their produces.
Banglalink has a help line named Jigyasha and Grameenphone has a telecentre-based market solution to address farmers' needs, said the report.
Grameenphone's 500 community information centres across the country are helping each rural small investor earn $3-4 a day, much better than almost half the population who earn less than $1 a day.