HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Market information systems (otherwise known as market intelligence systems, market information services, or MIS, and not to be confused with
management information systems A management information system (MIS) is an information system used for decision-making, and for the coordination, control, analysis, and visualization of information in an organization. The study of the management information systems involves pe ...
) are information systems used in gathering, analyzing and disseminating information about prices and other information relevant to farmers, animal rearers, traders, processors and others involved in handling agricultural products. Market information systems play an important role in agro-industrialisation and food
supply chain In commerce, a supply chain is a network of facilities that procure raw materials, transform them into intermediate goods and then final products to customers through a distribution system. It refers to the network of organizations, people, activ ...
s. With the advance of information and communication technologies for development (ICTs) in developing countries, the income- generation opportunities offered by market information systems have been sought by international development organizations,
non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...
s (NGOs) and businesses alike.


Types of market information systems

There is a wide variety of market information systems or services.
OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate ...
countries have traditionally emphasised the importance of information provision for the agricultural sector, a notable example being the service provided by the
United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of comme ...
(USDA). Such systems are widely used in order to increase the transparency and the volume of information flowing through the supply chains for different agricultural products. The ability of market information systems to provide a valuable service was strengthened with the development of the Internet and the advance of electronic commerce (
business-to-business Business-to-business (B2B or, in some countries, BtoB) is a situation where one business makes a commercial transaction with another. This typically occurs when: * A business is sourcing materials for their production process for output (e.g., a ...
(B2B),
consumer-to-consumer Customer to customer (C2C or consumer to consumer) markets provide a way to allow customers to interact with each other. Traditional markets require business to customer relationships, in which a customer goes to the business in order to purchas ...
, etc.). Industry structure, product complexity and the demanding nature of agricultural transactions are considered determining factors for the development of B2B
electronic commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manage ...
in agriculture.


Agricultural market information in developing countries

In developing countries, market information initiatives are often part of broader interventions and part of the
agricultural marketing Agricultural marketing covers the services involved in moving an agricultural product from the farm to the consumer. These services involve the planning, organizing, directing and handling of agricultural produce in such a way as to satisfy far ...
and
agribusiness Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy, in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit w ...
development strategy that many governments are actively engaged in. It is commonly understood that long transaction chains, lack of transparency, lack of standards, and insufficient access to markets for products has perpetuated low incomes in predominantly agrarian economies. Early attempts at market information provision in developing countries involved government bodies in collecting price information, and arranging for this to be disseminated via newspapers and radio stations. The information provided was often not very accurate and usually reached farmers too late to be of practical use. Governments often attempted to cover far too many locations and many services either collapsed after initial donor assistance came to an end or managed to struggle along with little impact. Furthermore, it was soon recognised that it was not enough just to supply market information to farmers. They needed assistance in understanding how to use that information. However, donor organizations, such as FAO, the IICD,
USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...
,
DFID The Department for International Development (DFID) was a department of HM Government responsible for administering foreign aid from 1997 to 2020. The goal of the department was "to promote sustainable development and eliminate world poverty". ...
, and the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was l ...
, remain committed to improving the efficiencies within the supply chain through greater information provision. The recent surge of
mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whi ...
usage in developing countries has provided an opportunity for innovative projects to leverage this new distribution channel to get critical market data into the hands of farmers and traders, taking advantage of the
SMS Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...
capacity of phones. Using the so-called "push" method recipients of information are identified on a database and automatically receive messages of relevance to them. Alternatively, the "pull" method enables farmers and traders to interrogate the database of the MIS. A farmer can send an SMS with the product and location he is interested in (e.g. tomatoes;Nairobi) and receive an immediate reply. Several projects by
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was est ...
,
Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...
, Esoko, KACE, Manobi, AgRisk and others have demonstrated the impact that such information can have. Amongst donors there is a renewed interest in promoting regional trade, particularly in Africa, and market information is seen as an important way of achieving this. Examples of donor-supported services are RATIN for East Africa and RESIMAO for West Africa. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether MIS can be delivered on a profitable basis by the private sector, given the difficulty of fully covering costs, or on a sustainable basis by the public sector, given the latter's history of gathering inaccurate data and disseminating it badly. To try to address some of these problems, a new approach makes the buyers responsible for uploading the price information via SMS, and facilitates trade by creating a capacity for sellers to contact individual buyers. Others question whether formal systems are still necessary when farmers can just contact traders by phone. Work in Bangladesh, India, China and Vietnam found that 80% of farmers now own cell phones and they use these to speak to multiple traders about prices and demand and to conclude deals. A study in the Philippines found that farmers using cell phones reported improved relationships with their trading partners, possibly because the ability to compare prices made them trust their buyers more. Studies in Niger and India demonstrate the impact of cell phones in reducing price variations and creating greater equilibrium among markets. Introduction of internet kiosks and cafes that provide wholesale price information to farmers has been shown to enhance the functioning of rural markets by increasing the competitiveness of local traders in India.Aparajita Goya
Information, Direct Access to Farmers, and Rural Market Performance in Central India
July 2010


References

{{reflist, 2


Supporting organizations

* FAO –
Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...
(UN), Rome * IFAD –
International Fund for Agricultural Development The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD; french: link=no, Fonds international de développement agricole (FIDA)) is an international financial institution and a specialised agency of the United Nations that works to addres ...
, Rome * IICD – International Institute for Communication and Development * MCA – Millenium Challenge Account * CRS -
Catholic Relief Services Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is the international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. Founded in 1943 by the Bishops of the United States, the agency provides assistance to 130 million people in more than 110 ...
* IITA – International Institute for Tropical Agriculture *
USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...
– United States Agency for International Development *
DFID The Department for International Development (DFID) was a department of HM Government responsible for administering foreign aid from 1997 to 2020. The goal of the department was "to promote sustainable development and eliminate world poverty". ...
– UK's Department for International Development *
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was l ...
*
CGIAR CGIAR (formerly the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) is a global partnership that unites international organizations engaged in research about food security. CGIAR research aims to reduce rural poverty, increase food ...
* FARA – Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa, Accra. * Grameen Foundation Seattle. *
International Development Research Centre The International Development Research Centre (IDRC; french: Centre de recherches pour le développement international, ''CRDI'') is a Canadian federal Crown corporation that funds research and innovation within and alongside developing regions ...
(IDRC), Canada. * MercyCorps *
Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropy, philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, aft ...
*
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is an intergovernmental organization within the United Nations Secretariat that promotes the interests of developing countries in world trade. It was established in 1964 by the ...
(UNCTAD) * CIHEAM – International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies


External links


AMIS
G20 Agricultural Market Information System
Agis
South Africa's Agricultural Marketing Information System
Agmarknet
Indian Government's detailed price information service on commodities (national informatics division)
Commodafrica
Francophone African Service
FAO PriceTool
National basic food prices – data and analysis tool from GIEWS
FEWSNET
Quarterly reports from USAID's food security program
Infotrade
provides current agricultural information to farmers and agricultural stakeholders in Uganda
MED-Amin
CIHEAM MEDiterranean Agricultural Information Network
Nokia's Life Tools
Partnered with RML in India, deploying icon-driven ag MIS services.
RATIN
Regional Agricultural Trade Intelligence Network


Blogs and discussion groups


Promoting Second Generation Market Information Services (MIS) in Developing Economies
DGroup from CTA
Mobiles in Agriculture
Google Group from MobileActive08
Mobile Market Design for Development
Blog
Aginfo News from IAALD
– postings on market information systems


Further reading


"Creating opportunity by connecting the unconnected: mobile phone based agriculture market information service for farmers"
A comprehensive research on AMIS in the LDCs in general and Bangladesh in particular. M. Sirajul Islam, Swedish School of Business
Informatics

Örebro University
Sweden (2011)
FARA; Innovative Farmer Advisory Systems, 2009
* “Supply Chain Re-engineering in Agri-Business A Case study of ITCs e-Choupal,” Anupindi, R. and SivaKumar, S. (2006) * “The Economics of Information,” George Stigler, (Journal of Political Economy, 1961)
(JSTOR)
Agricultural marketing Supply chain management Food industry Market intelligence