Improving Agricultural Market Performance:
Developing Agricultural Market Information Systems
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2. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR REVIEW OF MIS
2.1 INTRODUCTION
As noted in Chapter 1, the development of agricultural MIS gained prominence in most
developing countries in the 1980-90s after liberalisation of the agricultural and other sectors of
the economies. The aim, as stressed by advocates, was to ensure efficiency and transparency in
the agricultural marketing systems. In this chapter, we begin to review what has occurred over
the past three decades and whether MIS has achieved the set objectives, especially in OIC
member countries. The discussions in the chapter include definition and early global examples.
This is followed by a discussion of the factors which drove the development of MIS in developing
countries, noting, in particular, the role of liberalisation in the agricultural sector, and how it
shaped the objectives of MIS. The generic processes involved in the generation and
dissemination of market information are also discussed in this chapter, which also covers a brief
overview of the typologies of existing MIS.
2.2 DEFINITION AND EARLY EXAMPLES OF MIS
2.2.1 DEFINITION OF MIS Agricultural marketing Based on the basic definitions by CTA (2012) and others such as Staatz
et al., (2014), we describe agricultural Market Information Systems (MIS) as systems which have
been set up for gathering (or collecting), processing (including analysing) and disseminating
market-related information to various actors in agricultural value chains. The primary
expectation is that the information provided to value chain actors such as farmers (producing
various crops and livestock), traders and processors will inform their investment, marketing
and other enterprise-related decisions. For instance, farmers are expected to use the
information provided to guide decisions on: what to produce; how much of their surplus to sell,
into which markets and when to sell. Traders and processors are also expected to use such
information in formulating their procurement andmarketing strategies. It is therefore apparent
that, though most MIS focus on dissemination of price information, the market actors require
much more than that. Evidence from a number of reviews, including a recent one by NRI (2017),
indicates that market actors are broadly interested in data and information on the following:
prices, quantities of available stocks of a commodity or produce (including forecasts on
availability), qu ity (especially as it relates to prices prevailing in specific markets), market
analytic report and, where possible, information which enables stakeholders to identify
potential partne with whom they can trade or transact (CTA, 2015).
Agricultural MIS differs from marketing information which, as defined by (Shepherd 1997),
provides details on potential market channels and information which enables sellers and buyers
to access them including payments systems, packaging and quality requirements. That is a much
broader concept but may not be directly linked to transaction-related decisions by market
actors. MIS is also not the same as Market Information Services, which can be described as the
service of providing market information, with emphasis on the delivery of information to target
1 Kzito (2011) defines market analytic reports as ‘reports that analyse factors that cause changes in market conditions and
their effects on stakeholders, including policy analysis.’