Improving Agricultural Market Performance:
Creation and Development of Market Institutions
6
inputs. Such an authority is mandated to develop certification for inputs which meet a certain
international quality standard,
The Role of Warehousing
Where not currently in place, provide means whereby small producers may gain access to
warehousing and storage capacity, thereby allowing small producers to better manage
when their products may come to market.
Many OIC Member Countries have implemented Warehouse Receipt Systems or operate
licensed public warehousing companies to stimulate smallholders to store their agricultural
produce for longer periods to obtain higher prices. However, by the time the harvest comes
around, smallholders have typically run out of money and need to sell for whatever price they
can get. Storing goods is to sell at a later point has a higher return on investment but requires
to convince farmers. A “change in farmers’ mindset” has been mentioned across the three case
study countries. Organizing farmers into cooperatives that can set up warehouses of their own
may prove to be an alternative solution.
Traceability and Standards
Improve overall food quality standards and implement means for ingredient and input
traceability in order to further enhance both safety and market acceptance of agricultural
and food products.
Traceability of origin for many (strategic and priority) agricultural products can also be lost if
issue of farmers’ registration is not addressed. The traceability of food in the market system is
critical for food safety, but also for broader strategic and market monitoring purposes. The
development of such a registration system should contribute to improving market
surveillance, product traceability and monitoring of agricultural products and market
participants as, for instance, producers should register their middlemen and intermediaries,
while importers need to register their domestic distributors. A registration system should
enable agricultural market institutions to trace farmers or areas not meeting export
requirements in terms of standardization, food safety, and (phyto) sanitary measures, and
address these issues.
Research Laboratories
Invest in national or multi-national research laboratories to support food standards and
also provide local best-practices for growing, crop rotation, food production, safety, and
other agricultural and food knowledge-bases.
The review of national food and agricultural institutions highlighted the importance of
research laboratories in the adoption of new technologies and farming practices and
adaptation of seed varieties to local soil and climate conditions. It may be possible for these
institutions to integrate more fully with existing institutions in some OIC countries in which
such coordination is relatively weak compared to other countries.