1. ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA
FOOD SECURITY AND SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT DIVISION
Presentation at the Workshop on
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Market Information System
CIRAD, Montpellier, FRANCE
29 – 31 March 2010

2. The Context
Problems of Africa’s Agriculture
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Rationale of the RAAMIS
Objectives of the RAAMIS
The Structure of the RAAMIS
The Activities
Partnerships
Challenges
Ch ll

3. Growing African food import bill ($33 bln,2005)
$3 bln of food aid annually
Yet, 40% of Africa’s population is undernourished
Loss of market shares of traditional commodity
exports
Only 2% of the World agricultural trade

4. Food crisis was not a new phenomenum in Africa
Poor performance in face of abundant untapped
resources and market
There is a structural problem facing Africa s
There is a structural problem facing Africa’s
agricultural sector that need to be addressed

5. Severely undercapitalized (technology, infrastructure,
institutions) as result of past neglect
Farmers are disconnected from the inputs and product
F di t d f th i t d d t
markets (no linkages)
Agricultural and food system is fragmented along
national boundaries (lack of complementarities and
economies of scales
Asymmetries of information and market opportunities
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Low private investment in agriculture and reliance on
imports

6. Need for a structural transformation of Africa s agricultural
Need for a structural transformation of Africa’s agricultural
sector
Promote a regional vision of agricultural development beyond
national and sub‐regional boundaries
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Development of regional agricultural commodity value chains
through PPPs to promote Agribusiness and Agro‐industry
Create enabling environment for private sector investment in
agricultural production and trade
i l l d i d d
Deepening of regional agricultural market integration, to
Enhance intra‐African trade in agricultural products
Thus the need to establish a regional MIS
h h d bl h l
Limited scope of existing MIS

7. As the socio economic environments of sub Saharan
socio‐economic sub‐Saharan
Africa continue to change and the private sector actors are
becoming the main providers of services previously
provided by the public sector, a properly established and
well‐coordinated agricultural information system is
required.
the overall objective of this system is to promote free
intra‐African trade in agricultural and food products based
on an open, transparent and competitive agricultural
market.
market

8. Through this initiative, ECA intends to contribute to
equal access to market information to all stakeholders
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(policy makers, private sector dealers, farmers and
researchers)
This
Thi regional market i f
i l k t information system i part of
ti t is t f
the overall strategy for triggering the structural
transformation of African agriculture through the
development of regional strategic agricultural
commodity value chains (ERA, 2009)

9. The structure is still under development. However, roughly, the
RAAMIS is an internet‐based agricultural market information exchange
system linking the existing international SIM with the RECs, and other
SIM in Africa to form a one‐stop shop (warehouse) to facilitate access to
market information, d
k f decision making, b practices, networking
k best k
The RAAMIS will also have a component on knowledge management
(creation of community of practice), links to major agricultural
statistical databases, decision making tool, etc.

10. Assessment of existing MIS at regional levels (RECs, and others)
Development of the RAAMIS taking into account the structure of existing
MIS
Organization of Expert Group Meeting to validate the structure
Development of ECA Portal to host the RAAMIS
Launching of the Website
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11. In implementing this project, the UNECA will rely on effective
partnerships to avoid duplications and build on ongoing similar
projects.
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The UNECA already has a memorandum of understanding
with the Michigan State University on a knowledge sharing web‐
based portal. The portal has not developed beyond the working
demonstration stage, but there are plans to include online
tutorials and downloadable training materials on conducting
research, and advanced internet searching to find new data and
information.
information
The demonstration module is accessible on
http://www.aec.msu.edu/agecon/fs2/test/index.cfm?Lang=en.
This ECA MSU web‐site can serve as the foundation of the
ECA_MSU web site
Regional African Agricultural Market Information System.

12. Building consensus in support of the initiative
Building effective partnerships to implement
Preparation of technical document, and
Organization of Expert Group Meeting
Mobilizing technical and financial resources
Getting support from this workshop