Improving Agricultural Market Performance:
Developing Agricultural Market Information Systems
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8. CONCLUSIONS AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS This study was commissioned by COMCEC for purposes of assessing the extent to which MIS in
member countries of OIC have achieved set objectives such as facilitating trade decisions by
players in agricultural value chains; improving market transparency; enhancing the bargaining
power of, especially, farmers; and providing policymakers and researchers with valuable
material. The study aimed to provide an overview and mapping of current MIS in OIC member
countries; elaborate policy recommendations to improve MIS in the OIC countries in order to
contribute to improvements in the performance of agricultural marketing systems, and to
recommend suitable indicators to allow policymakers to monitor MIS and its use in decision-
making. The methodology adopted included a review of the literature on MIS; an online survey
targeting users and providers of MIS services; and three country case studies involving field
visits to Egypt, Indonesia and Uganda. The conclusions from the evidence generated are
summarised below. Also set out in this chapter are relevant recommendations.After liberalising the agricultural and other sectors of the economies in the 1970-80s, most
developing countries prioritised the development of market institution in order to improve the
performance of agricultural inputs and output markets. This was seen as important in driving
sustained output and productivity growth in the agricultural sector. In the course of
liberalisation, government-run institutions which were dominant prior to the reforms were
scaled down. These included state-owned economic enterprises in the agricultural sector,
commodity marketing boards and commodity market regulatory authorities (COMCEC, 2017).
The role of cooperatives in the marketing of agricultural inputs and outputs was also affected by
liberalisation. The newmarket institutions which were promoted include as market information
systems (MIS) as well as warehouse receipt systems (WRS), commodity quality and quantity
assurance systems and agricultural commodity exchanges (Coulter and Onumah 2002; and
COMCEC, 2017).The primary aims for which many developing countries set up the MIS included:
a) To facilitate trade decisions for buying, selling and investing;
b) Improve market transparency;
c) Minimise information asymmetry between market actors;
d) Enhance the bargaining power of smallholder farmers in selling their marketable
surplus;
e) Provide policymakers with reliable evidence-basis to guide policy decisions, especially
with regards to food security; and
f) Assist agricultural research.
Several decades of MIS in most developing countries has evolved, in particular as advances in
ICT has made it possible to improve and speed up collection, processing and dissemination of
market information. In addition, service provision has moved beyond governments and
increasingly involves private sector actors and NGOs as well as professional representative
organisations such as farmers’ organisations. This study was commissioned to assess the extent
to which MIS in member countries of OIC have achieved the objectives outlined above. The aims
of the study are to provide an overview and mapping of current MIS in OIC member countries;
to identify and elaborate options for policy recommendations to improve agricultural market
performance through the use of MIS; and to recommend suitable indicators to allow