Improving Agricultural Market Performance:
Developing Agricultural Market Information Systems
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The benefits other stakeholders enjoy include the following:• Banks are able to cost-effectively identify creditworthy farmers who want to access
credit and can use the services of MANOBI to monitor borrowers.
• Suppliers can reduce their distribution costs through organising bulk distribution to
groups of scattered smallholder farmers who order through the available facilities.
• Traders can also reduce the cost of sourcing produce through benefiting from
information on stock availability and shortening the price negotiation process by
utilising price information provided by the platform. Exporters can obtain similar
benefits.
• Policymakers, donors and NGOs benefit in terms of taking advantage of information
provided to devise and monitor implementation of various actions in the sector.
4.5 RESULTS OF ONLINE SURVEY ON MIS The online survey findings are based on over 60 responses from about 600 experts surveyed.
Most of the respondents are policymakers who use MIS and only a few (12%) are MIS providers.
The questionnaire is provided in Appendix 2 and the profile of respondents is summarised in
Appendix 3. It is apparent from Figure 25 that most of the respondents are interested in price
information but, in addition, they prioritise access to the following information:• Quality of commodities traded and related prices;
• Trade volumes, including quantities, demanded and supplied;
• Market trends;
• Linkage to buyers and sellers; and
• There was also interest in weather information as well as extension advice, transport
costs and inventories. However, demand for such information appears to be on the low
side.
The emerging evidence suggests a preference for weekly market information rather than daily,
though the relative weight is low because the majority is only 36% as against 29% for those
requiring information on a daily basis. The majority also prefer that market information is sent
to them rather than them searching for it and an overwhelming majority (86%) want to receive
the information via websites. This is most likely because most of the respondents are
policymakers who have regular internet access and receive considerable information on a daily
basis via the internet. Only a few, representing less than 30% of the respondents, preferred
receiving information via mobile phones. Considering that a major part of the push for 2GMIS is
based on information dissemination via mobile phones, this may appear to be a rather
surprising outcome. However, evidence from case studies discussed in the next chapter is also
consistent with this finding. Very few respondents preferred information dissemination via the
radio and television, which had been the principal means by which information was
disseminated under the first generation MIS.