Abstract
Seed systems that provide farmers with planting materials may be divided into formal and informal systems. For the sweet potato sector, the informal seed system is the main provider of planting materials to small and medium sized farmers in developing countries. This informal system provides planting materials to smallholder farmers at the right time, place and quantity. However, for it to be effective there must be an appropriate means of communication between multipliers and buyers of sweet potato vines. This may be achieved with the use of mobile phones. Mobile phones are said to have great impact in improving trade through provision of accurate and timely information directly to farmers. However mobile phones usage in agriculture is still low. Many farmers still rely on the traditional way of accessing information which seems inadequate. This study characterized users and non-users of mobile phones and assessed factors that influenced mobile phones usage in sweet potato vines trade. A cross sectional causal comparative survey research design was used. The study obtained primary data from 140 randomly selected respondents in three purposively selected project sub-counties in Gulu district. Descriptive statistics and probit regression were used to analyse the data. Our results indicated that users and non-users of mobile phones in sweet potato vines marketing differed in a number of socio-economic characteristics. Users of mobile phone were on average younger, better educated and had bigger sweet potato fields. The Probit regression results revealed that the farmers’ age negatively influenced the decision to use mobile phones in sweet potato vines trade. On the other hand, education and household income positively influenced the decision to use mobile phones in sweet potato vine trade. Mobile phones therefore have potential for improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and should be specifically targeted to lure the youths into agriculture. Key words: Mobile phones, sweet potato vines, seed system, marketing, Gulu district.  
Highlights
Sweet potato is vegetatively propagated using cuttings preferably from the tip of the growing plant (Wilson, 1988)
Significant differences were observed between users and non-users of mobile phones in sweet potato vine marketing (Table 2)
There was no significant difference in the mean quantity of sweet potato vines sold in a year and mean quantity lost in a year between users and non-users of mobile phones
Summary
Sweet potato is vegetatively propagated using cuttings preferably from the tip of the growing plant (Wilson, 1988). Long dry seasons destroy the planting material and require an effective seed system to facilitate early planting and to assure farmers of a good crop (Gibson et al, 2009). A seed system refers to an organised, formal or informal mechanism through which farmers get planting materials (Louwaars et al, 2010). The formal seed system which involves production of seeds by institutions following
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