Market and price data

Description

Data on the location of markets and market prices.

Rationale

To create open equitable markets, price information should be shared with farmers. By providing open data on markets and market prices, farmers will be better positioned to negotiate at the farm gate, select crops, and select a distribution channel. (Third-party) services can be built to make these lists easily accessible by the intended user groups.

Key datasets

• Global food prices
• National stock exchange prices
• Regional market prices
• Local market prices
• Location of national markets
• Location of regional markets
• Location of local markets
• Import/export volume

Expected impact: High

Farmer use

• By knowing about crop price history farmers can make more informed decisions on what to plant.
• With improved knowledge of local and national prices a farmer is better able to negotiate at the farm gate.
• With Knowledge of local market prices farmers can choose where to sell their crops.

Use by other actors

• By having better price information
  • financial services can make better risk estimates about whether farmers can pay back their loans, and can determine the price of a financial product, increasing access to finance.
  • Financial services, value-chain actors, and governments can forecast market developments better.

Readiness

Global food prices and trade statistics are already collected by the WTO and made available online https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/statis_e.htm. The effort required to publish import and export trade figures is low, because generally this involves large quantities, a few large companies and is already monitored by the government. Local prices of domestic trades are more challenging to obtain. Data collection often involves sending out independent agents to find out what is happening in the market. Another method is to collect information on bidding at different auctions. Some governments already have systems in place to collect such data. Once available, publication online is relatively simple. Depending on the connectivity of the farmers the information can be accessed via the web or a telephone messaging service can be set up.

Examples of implementation

• The Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX) is a marketplace where buyers and sellers come together to trade, assured of quality, quantity, payment, and delivery organised with the support of the Ethiopian government.The key market dissemination channels at ECX are rural-based Market Information Tickers, a mobile phone Short Messaging Service (SMS), an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) service, the mass media (TV, radio, newspapers) and a website (www.ecx.com.et).
• An example of sharing crop and livestock prices is that collected by the statistical agency in Kenya. http://www.knbs.or.ke/index.php?option=com_phocadownload&view=category&id=64:agriculture&Itemid=1123
• Internationally agricultural prices are shared by IFPRI and FAO as open data to monitor food security.
  • http://ssa.foodsecurityportal.org/regional-sub-portal/sub-saharan-africa
  • http://www.fao.org/giews/food-prices/home/en/
• Global trade data are provided as open data at: http://comtrade.un.org/

Initiatives that support interoperability

• Global Product Classification (GPC) classifies products by grouping them into categories based on their essential properties as well as their relationships to other products. Including the Global Location Number (GLN) and Global Trade Item Number (GTIN). http://www.gs1.org/gpc