Improving Agricultural Market Performance:

Developing Agricultural Market Information Systems

2.6.2

FIRST GENERATION MIS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

The main features of the 1GMIS models are summarised in Box 1. Most of these systems were

set up in developing countries in the 1980s and 1990s as government-run initiatives, focused

predominantly on a few strategic crops (mainly the key staple crops such as maize and rice),

which were prioritised on food security grounds (CTA, 2008). Livestock was also covered in

economies where the livestock sector is sizeable. The main emphasis was on providing price

data on a daily basis though some added information on volumes of sold in the major wholesale

markets. For example, the Philippines had a system in the 1990s which published prices and

volume delivered specified commodities in rural market nodes.

Box 1: Typology of First Generation MIS in Developing Countries

Product coverage and information disseminated:

Major staple grains (e.g. maize and rice)

Focus mainly on average prices in many markets (rural and urban) but volumes may be added.

Area covered:

National, including a collection of primary data from all major rural and urban markets.

Institutio al home:

Government (especially the Ministry of Agriculture).

Data coll ction and proc ssi g:

Data collected by the field staff of government agency and processing by head office personnel.

Technology used:

Data transmission is paper-based; processing involves data entry by head office staff using basic

statistical software e.g. Excel spreadsheets. Dissemination via radio and/or sometimes television

broadcasts by government-owned stations; newspaper publications and postings on billboards.

Target users and funding sources:

Target farmers and traders but often used more by public policy agencies; funding is mainly from

government and donors (through projects)

Source: Adapted from Galtier et al. (2014); David-Benz et al. (2015); Chito h a d Gyau (2016); Zhang et al, (2016);

and Staatz et al, (2014).

Typically, the 1GMIS were largely centrally managed by government bodies, especially

Ministries of Agriculture – a typical example in a non-OIC country is the Zambia Agricultural

Market Information System (ZAMIS) discussed in Chapter 3. Field staff of Ministries of

Agriculture, including extension personnel, are often deployed to collect data on prices and

sometimes on volumes traded through designated markets. It is often the practice that a large

number of markets are covered and the price data is collected through asking traders in the

markets.

Data processing is usually centralised in the head offices of the responsible Ministry or public

agency and transmission of data collected may involve a paper-based reporting system which

delays processing and reporting. In some cases, data analysis is complicated by the fact that the

analysis and dissemination are in standard weights whilst trading in the markets involve the use

of a range of informal volumes which make conversion difficult. Dissemination was mainly

through radio broadcasts at specified times and in official and local languages. Newspapers also