Market information systems

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Market information systems (otherwise known as market intelligence systems, market information services, or MIS, and not to be confused with management information systems) 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 chains. 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 organizations (NGOs) and businesses alike.

Contents

Types of market information systems

There is a wide variety of market information systems or services. OECD 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 (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 (B2B), consumer-to-consumer, etc.). Industry structure, product complexity and the demanding nature of agricultural transactions are considered determining factors for the development of B2B electronic commerce in agriculture. [1]

Agricultural market information in developing countries

In developing countries, market information initiatives are often part of broader interventions and part of the agricultural marketing and agribusiness 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. [2] [3] 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. [4] [5] However, donor organizations, such as FAO, the IICD, USAID, DFID, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, remain committed to improving the efficiencies within the supply chain through greater information provision. The recent surge of mobile phone 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 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, [6] Nokia, [7] Esoko, [8] KACE, [9] Manobi, [10] AgRisk [11] 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. [12] [13] 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. [14] A study in the Philippines [15] 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 [16] and India [17] 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. [18]

Related Research Articles

Agribusiness refers to the enterprises, the industry, the system, and the field of study of the interrelated and interdependent value chains in agriculture and bio-economy. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit while sustainably satisfying the needs of consumers for products related to natural resources such as biotechnology, farms, food, forestry, fisheries, fuel, and fiber — usually with the exclusion of non-renewable resources such as mining.

Smallholding

A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technology, involvement of family in labor and economic impact. Smallholdings are usually farms supporting a single family with a mixture of cash crops and subsistence farming. As a country becomes more affluent, smallholdings may not be self-sufficient, but may be valued for the rural lifestyle. As the sustainable food and local food movements grow in affluent countries, some of these smallholdings are gaining increased economic viability. There are an estimated 500 million smallholder farms in developing countries of the world alone, supporting almost two billion people.

Private sector development (PSD) is a term in the international development industry to refer to a range of strategies for promoting economic growth and reducing poverty in developing countries by building private enterprises. This could be through working with firms directly, with membership organisations to represent them, or through a range of areas of policy and regulation to promote functioning, competitive markets.

Fairtrade Canada National non-profit certification and public education organization

Fairtrade Canada, formerly TransFair Canada, is a national non-profit certification and public education organization promoting Fairtrade certified products in Canada to improve the livelihood of developing world farmers and workers. It is the Canadian member of FLO International, which unites 24 fair trade producer and certification initiatives across Europe, Asia, Latin America, North America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Information and commu:-tion technology in agriculture, also known as e-agriculture, focuses on the enhancement of agricultural and rural development through improved information and communication processes. More specifically, e-agriculture involves the conceptualization, design, development, evaluation and application of innovative ways to use information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the rural domain, with a primary focus on agriculture. ICT includes devices, networks, mobiles, services and applications; these range from innovative Internet-era technologies and sensors to other pre-existing aids such as fixed telephones, televisions, radios and satellites. Provisions of standards, norms, methodologies, and tools as well as development of individual and institutional capacities, and policy support are all key components of e-agriculture.

International Development Enterprises

iDE, formerly International Development Enterprises, is an international nonprofit organization that promotes a business approach to increasing income and creating livelihood opportunities for poor rural households. iDE was founded in 1982 by Paul Polak, a Denver, Colorado psychiatrist who promoted the concept of helping poor people become entrepreneurs instead of simply giving them handouts. Originally, iDE was devoted to the manufacture, marketing, and distribution of affordable, scalable micro-irrigation and low-cost water recovery systems throughout the developing world. iDE facilitates local manufacture and distribution of these products through local supply chains that sell to farmers at an affordable price which they can repay in one growing season. This strategy allows farmers to grow higher value and surplus crops, and in turn links them to high-value crop markets where they can realize profits from their higher yields. Recently, their success is in the promotion of sanitation products to decrease the practice of open defecation leading to diarrheal disease.

Agriculture in Ghana

Agriculture in Ghana consists of a variety of agricultural products and is an established economic sector, providing employment on a formal and informal basis. Ghana produces a variety of crops in various climatic zones which range from dry savanna to wet forest which run in east-west bands across Ghana. Agricultural crops, including yams, grains, cocoa, oil palms, kola nuts, and timber, form the base of agriculture in Ghana's economy. In 2013 agriculture employed 53.6% of the total labor force in Ghana.

Kenya Agricultural Commodity Exchange is a private sector firm in Kenya. It was established in 1997. KACE primarily functions as an information service to enhance price discovery as well as a spot exchange. Futures contracts are not traded on KACE.

Agricultural marketing Process of moving agricultural products from the farm to the consumer

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 farmers, intermediaries and consumers. Numerous interconnected activities are involved in doing this, such as planning production, growing and harvesting, grading, packing and packaging, transport, storage, agro- and food processing, provision of market information, distribution, advertising and sale. Effectively, the term encompasses the entire range of supply chain operations for agricultural products, whether conducted through ad hoc sales or through a more integrated chain, such as one involving contract farming.

Wholesale marketing of food Role and operations of agricultural wholesale markets

The consumption and production of marketed food are spatially separated. Production is primarily in rural areas while consumption is mainly in urban areas. Agricultural marketing is the process that overcomes this separation, allowing produce to be moved from an area of surplus to one of need. Food reaches the consumer by a complex network, involving production, assembly, sorting, packing, reassembly, distribution and retail stages. In developing countries the linkage between the producer and the retailer is still usually provided by assembly and wholesale markets, where wholesale marketing takes place using a variety of transaction methods. Recent years have seen an expansion of wholesale marketing in European and former CIS countries. On the other hand, the growth of supermarkets in many regions has seen the development of direct marketing and a reduced role for wholesale systems.

Esoko is an agricultural profiling and messaging service. It is a response to the explosive growth of cellular services in Africa. Managed on the web and delivered via mobile, individuals, agribusiness, government and projects use Esoko to collect and send out market data using simple text messaging. The Esoko platform provides automatic and personalized price alerts, buy and sell offers, bulk SMS messaging, stock counts and SMS polling.

Post-harvest losses (grains) ways in which grain losses can occur and ways of addressing problems

Grains may be lost in the pre-harvest, harvest, and post-harvest stages. Pre-harvest losses occur before the process of harvesting begins, and may be due to insects, weeds, and rusts. Harvest losses occur between the beginning and completion of harvesting, and are primarily caused by losses due to shattering. Post-harvest losses occur between harvest and the moment of human consumption. They include on-farm losses, such as when grain is threshed, winnowed, and dried. Other on-farm losses include inadequate harvesting time, climatic conditions, practices applied at harvest and handling, and challenges in marketing produce. Significant losses are caused by inadequate storage conditions as well as decisions made at earlier stages of the supply chain, including transportation, storage, and processing, which predispose products to a shorter shelf life.

Reuters Market Light

RML AgTech Pvt. Ltd., formerly known as Reuters Market Light is a business to provide Technology & Data Analytics Solutions to farmers and the agriculture value chain.

Committee on Sustainability Assessment

The Committee on Sustainability Assessment (COSA) is a global consortium of development institutions that work collaboratively to advance sustainability learning with its systematic and science-based measurement. COSA applies a pragmatic and collective approach for using scientific methods to develop indicators, tools, and technologies to measure the distinct social, environmental, and economic impacts and are applied in performance monitoring, evaluation, ROI calculation, and impact assessment. COSA has a public mission to open its scientific methods and metrics up to widespread use.

Mobile Agriculture (mAgri) supports actors along the agriculture value chain through the use of mobile technology. Mobile technology covers a broad range of devices and the sub-categories include voice, data, network and connectivity technologies. mAgri is a subset of e-agriculture.

Contract farming involves agricultural production being carried out on the basis of an agreement between the buyer and farm producers. Sometimes it involves the buyer specifying the quality required and the price, with the farmer agreeing to deliver at a future date. More commonly, however, contracts outline conditions for the production of farm products and for their delivery to the buyer's premises. The farmer undertakes to supply agreed quantities of a crop or livestock product, based on the quality standards and delivery requirements of the purchaser. In return, the buyer, usually a company, agrees to buy the product, often at a price that is established in advance. The company often also agrees to support the farmer through, e.g., supplying inputs, assisting with land preparation, providing production advice and transporting produce to its premises. The term "outgrower scheme" is sometimes used synonymously with contract farming, most commonly in Eastern and Southern Africa. Contract farming can be used for many agricultural products, although in developing countries it is less common for staple crops such as rice and maize.

The agricultural value chain concept has been used since the beginning of the millennium, primarily by those working in agricultural development in developing countries. Although there is no universally accepted definition of the term, it normally refers to the whole range of goods and services necessary for an agricultural product to move from the farm to the final customer or consumer.

Agriculture Department or Agri Punjab is department of Government of Punjab, Pakistan. The department is responsible for legislation, policy formulation, and development of agriculture sector in Punjab. Food and irrigation are separate departments.

National Agriculture Market or eNAM is an online trading platform for agricultural commodities in India. The market facilitates farmers, traders and buyers with online trading in commodities.

Digital agriculture refers to agricultural practices that digitally collect, store, analyze, and share electronic data and information along the agricultural value chain. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has described the digitalization process of agriculture as a revolution, namely, a digital agricultural revolution (DAR). In a bibliometric study on the DAR from the Polytechnic University of Milan, digital agriculture has been defined as applying digital technologies to achieve Climate-smart agriculture objectives, that is, climate-change resilience, GHG emissions reduction, and sustainable intensification.

References

  1. ↑ Leroux, Wortman Jr, and Mathias Dominant Factors Impacting the Development of Business-to-Business (B2B) [ permanent dead link ] e-Commerce in Agriculture
  2. ↑ Andrew W. Shepherd, Market Information Services: Theory and Practice, FAO, 1997
  3. ↑ FAO (2017). Building Agricultural Market Information Systems: A literature review (PDF). Rome: FAO. ISBN   978-92-5-109738-0 . Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  4. ↑ Andrew W. Shepherd, Understanding and Using Market Information. FAO, Rome, 2000
  5. ↑ "Introduction to agricultural market information systems" (PDF). CTA. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  6. ↑ Reuters Market Light, India
  7. ↑ "Nokia's Life Tools" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2009-04-11.
  8. ↑ Esoko
  9. ↑ KACE Kenya [ permanent dead link ]
  10. ↑ "Manobi". Archived from the original on 2012-12-06. Retrieved 2009-04-12.
  11. ↑ Agrisk
  12. ↑ ICT in Agriculture, Module 9, Archived 2014-02-22 at the Wayback Machine World Bank, Washington D.C. 2012
  13. ↑ Shepherd, Andrew (2018). Assessing the quality of agricultural market information systems: A self-assessment guide. Rome: FAO. ISBN   978-92-5-130460-0 . Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  14. ↑ B. Minten, T. Reardon and K. Chen, 2011, “The Quiet Revolution of ‘Traditional’ Agricultural Value Chains in Asia: Evidence from Staple Food Supply to Four Megacities.” Mimeo, International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington DC.
  15. ↑ J. Labonne and R.S. Chase, “The Power of Information: The Impact of Mobile Phones on Farmers’ Welfare in the Philippines.” Policy Research Working Paper No. 4996. Washington, DC: World Bank.
  16. ↑ Jenny Aker,The Impact of Cell Phones on Grain Markets in Niger Archived 2008-07-25 at the Wayback Machine ; University of California, Berkeley, Feb. 2008
  17. ↑ The Digital Provide: Information (Technology), Market Performance, and Welfare in the South Indian Fisheries Sector Robert Jensen, August 2007
  18. ↑ Aparajita Goyal,Information, Direct Access to Farmers, and Rural Market Performance in Central India July 2010

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