Case Study

Step 1: Identifying the Target Audience and Their Problems

Who is the target audience?

My target audience is small-scale and emerging farmers in Uganda, especially those growing cash crops (like maize, beans) or high-value specialized crops (like the dragon fruit for an organization like NGS).

What are their biggest challenges (pain points)?

• Price Information Asymmetry: Farmers have no reliable, up-to-date source for market prices in major hubs like Kampala (e.g., Owino, Nakasero).
• Middle-Man Disadvantage: Because they don't know the fair market price, they are forced to accept whatever low price is offered by the "middle-man" buyer who comes to their farm. This is their single biggest point of profit loss.
• Lack of Negotiating Power: Without data, a farmer cannot confidently negotiate. They are "price-takers," not "price-setters."

Step 2: Choosing the "Mock" Project

What is the planned project?

I am going to build a simple, full-stack, mobile-first web application that serves as a digital "price board."

How will it solve the problem?

This MVP (Minimum Viable Product) will have two key parts:

1. A Public, Read-Only Page: A single web page where any farmer can see a clean table of the latest commodity prices. This will give them immediate negotiating power.
2. A Simple, Secure Admin Panel: A password-protected page where an administrator (me) can log in to Create, Update, or Delete price entries. This proves the system is dynamic and maintainable.

Step 3: Documenting the Process (The Project Plan)

This section outlines my plan for building the "Agri-Price Tracker" MVP. This is "Solving in Public" — showing the process is as valuable as the final product.

The Problem I Am Solving:

"Ugandan farmers are the backbone of our economy, but they consistently lose profit to a simple problem: a lack of information. They have no way to know the fair market price for their produce. My solution is to build a simple tool that closes this information gap and puts economic power back in the hands of the farmer."

My Development Plan (The "How-To"):

1. Tech Stack: I will use my professional stack to build this:

• Backend: CodeIgniter 4 (PHP Framework)
• Database: MySQLi
• Frontend: Bootstrap (Note: I'll use Bootstrap for the app itself, while the main site uses Tailwind)

2. Database Schema: I will create two simple tables:

-- Table for administrator logins
CREATE TABLE admin_users (
    id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    username VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL UNIQUE,
    password_hash VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL
);

-- Table for the market price data
CREATE TABLE market_prices (
    id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    commodity_name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
    market_name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
    price_per_kg DECIMAL(10, 2) NOT NULL,
    date_updated TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
);

3. Core Logic (MVC): I will implement the following:

• Models: PHP classes to handle database queries (e.g., getPriceData(), addPriceEntry(), validateAdmin()).
• Views: Two Bootstrap-based PHP files: one for the public table (public_board.php) and one for the admin login/dashboard (admin_panel.php).
• Controllers: PHP files to handle all business logic, like Page->showPublicBoard() and Admin->login(), Admin->addPrice().

The Planned Solution & Deliverables:

The final output will be a functional web application. Once built, the deliverables will be available here:

(Note: Links will be added once the project build is complete.)

The Intended Impact:

"This tool will directly empower a farmer to increase their income. For my portfolio, this project will demonstrate my end-to-end skill as a developer: designing a database, building a secure backend with user authentication (CodeIgniter/PHP), and creating a clean, responsive front-end (Bootstrap) that solves a real-world Ugandan problem."

Step 4: Sharing Our Work

This blog post is Step 4 in action! We believe in sharing our process. We will also share this case study on our company's LinkedIn page. Here is the draft we'll use:

"How much profit are Ugandan farmers losing simply because they don't know today's market price?

I've seen this information gap hurt local growers. A farmer negotiates 'blind' with a buyer, having no idea what their produce is worth in Kampala.

As a software developer, I decided to build a simple solution...

I created "Agri-Price Tracker," a full-stack mock project... It's built with CodeIgniter (PHP), MySQLi, and Bootstrap...

🚀 See the Live Demo: [Link]

🔧 See the Code: [Link]

This project shows how a simple, well-built web app can provide real economic power to our local communities.

#UgandaTech #AgriTech #PHP #CodeIgniter #SoftwareDeveloper #SupportLocal #Farmers #ALX"