The 150-second menu

Mobile networks end a USSD session after 150 to 180 seconds. Every word of our advice is written to beat that clock.

USSD runs over the signalling channel of a GSM network, so it works on any phone with no data plan. That reach comes with a hard limit: operators end a session after 150 to 180 seconds, and a farmer who pauses to read starts again from the top.

So menus stay shallow and messages short. One screen holds 160 characters, and our planting advice fits in one.

Access has a price too. In Ghana a shared shortcode costs about 640 GHS a month, while a dedicated one needs approval from the National Communications Authority and close to 9,318 GHS to set up across the three networks.