Improving Agricultural Market Performance:
Developing Agricultural Market Information Systems
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7.2 MAPPING EXISTING MIS IN UGANDA: NATIONAL SYSTEMS A recent survey by IFAD (2016) of sources of information on agricultural risks identified several
agricultural MIS in Uganda, categorised as national, regional and international systems based on
the defined coverage of the information provided (Table 10).
7.2.1 FARMGAIN: NATIONAL PRIVATE PROVIDER FARMGAIN is a private MIS provider. It was established in 2007 by former technical staff who
used to work on FOODNET and who had gained valuable experience in running such a system
over a period of about 10 years. The platform disseminates information on average national-
level wholesale and retail prices on a weekly basis, citing prices in different major urban
markets. In addition, daily prices in the major markets in the capital Kampala (e.g. the Owino
Market) are also published. It covers a wide range of food crops includingmaize, soybean, beans,
rice and sunflower as well as export crops such as coffee and livestock product e.g. dairy
products.Details reported in Box 9 show different prices for a sample of three major markets covered by
FARMGAIN in Uganda for maize and two for coffee. It also features a report on the potential
impact of the onset of rains, for instance on the quality of crops such as maize and anticipated
price trends.FARMGAIN uses its field staff to collect information from rural and urban markets. It has also
developed strong networks with other information providers such as RATIN and FEWSNET for
information-sharing purposes at the regional level. It also had formal collaboration with NAADS,
as a result of which it received some funding from government but this was affected by a cutback
in the funding available to NAADS.Its main target audience are farmers, grain traders, agro-processors, development partners and
policymakers. The information is disseminated through its website, emails and also via mobile
phones (users have to text a short access code 8198).