Improving Agricultural Market Performance:
Developing Agricultural Market Information Systems
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2.6 MIS TYPOLOGIES The main basis used for categorising MIS is the type of host organisation/service provider or the
type of technology used in collecting and disseminating market information. CTA (2015) uses
the type of host/service provider to distinguish one system from the other. Three main types of
MIS are identified based on this criterion. These are Government MIS; Commercial or private
MIS; and Project-based or donor-funded MIS.On the other hand, David-Benz et al. (2012) use the type of technology adopted in collecting and
disseminating market information as the basis for delineating different types of MIS. Under this,
two main types of MIS are identified: First and Second Generation MIS. The First Generation MIS
(1GMIS) are mainly government-hosted services, which operate as described in Section 2.6.1
below. The Second Generation MIS (2GMIS) was developed to address identified challenges
associated with the 1GMIS, including delays in dissemination of information. The main
distinguishing feature is that in the development of 2GMIS advantage was taken of advances in
information and communications technology (ICT), including especially the use of internet in
transmitting data collected as well as the use of mobile telephones in disseminating price
information.
2.6.1 MIS TYPOLOGIES BASED ON HOST/SERVICE PROVIDERS The three types of MIS classified on the basis of the type of host/service provider are briefly
described below.a. Government MIS: these are hosted by government institutions and provide information on
prices for a range of commodities. Collection of primary data is usually by the staff of
Ministries of Agriculture and dissemination is often via state-ownedmedia (radio, television
and print media). The service is usually free as information is perceived as a public good.
Whilst price information may be collected to support market actors, it also tends to serve
other purposes such as enabling the government to monitor price instability for appropriate
actions to control economy-wide inflation by the monetary authorities such as the central
banks. Examples of this type of MIS exist in several developing countries and are discussed
in Chapters 3 and 4.
b. Commercial or private MIS: these may be run as for-profit services for which users pay a
fee, either in the form of subscription fees or charges for accessing the data. In some cases,
information provision is linked to primary commercial services provided by the host, which
can, for instance, be a large-scale trading company or a commodity exchange. In cases where
the information is provided as a bespoke service, quite often commercial sustainability is
difficult to achieve and providers end up relying on donor or government support.
c. Project-based or donor-funded MIS: these are usually set up as part of specific
programmes to promote target crop and/or livestock subsectors or as part of broader
initiatives to develop modern agricultural marketing systems and/or market-supporting
institutions.