In addition to education and entertainment, it provides agricultural information, such as prices, weather data and farming tips, that can be called up from special menus on some Nokia handsets.

ECONOMIST: Beyond voice

Hormats cited Kenyan farmers in remote areas who can now get weather and farming data on their cell phones.

FORBES: Live From Techonomy: The Future Of Offline And Mobile Networks

That was added to tools that allow farmers to integrate accounting and farming data to determine which practices are most powerful, and a GPS-powered system that improves efficiency during the harvest.

FORBES: Connect

Although there is no statistical data, MIND says there is plenty of anecdotal evidence of farmers and the farming community suffering stress and depression - even suicidal feelings - because of the foot and mouth crisis.

BBC: Help for stressed foot-and-mouth farmers