Assessment, Workshop, and Action Plan to Support Public Market Information System in West Africa

The project's primary objective is to contribute to the realization of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) goal of achieving a 6% annual agricultural growth rate. The project's mandate is to support public market information systems (SIMs) in West Africa, providing useful agricultural information to analysts and policymakers. The SIMs are government-run organizations that collect and disseminate market information through various channels, including radio, newspapers, television, and mobile phones. These organizations primarily process agricultural information for policy decision-making. The RESIMAO (Réseau des systèmes d'information de marché de l'Afrique de l'Ouest) is a non-profit association created by the national market information systems of the Economic Community of West African States (CEDEAO). The RESIMAO aims to contribute to food security and promote intra-regional agricultural trade by collecting and disseminating commercial agricultural information in the West African region. The USAID ATP project has been collaborating with the RESIMAO since 2010 to support public SIMs in West Africa. The project has evaluated the activities of the SIMs and identified areas of collaboration with the RESIMAO and its partners. The main axes of collaboration identified include providing logistical support to improve real-time information collection at the sub-regional level, strengthening the technical capacity of SIM national teams through training and follow-up, and identifying and referencing agricultural operators as potential users of the SIM. The project has also conducted a midterm evaluation of the RESIMAO's activities, which revealed certain deficiencies, including the process of collecting, transmitting, and analyzing market information, the mode of dissemination, and the services provided to potential SIM users. The evaluation also identified the need for harmonization of information collection and dissemination, as well as the use of appropriate dissemination channels. The RESIMAO has mobilized its network of national SIMs to collect inputs and agricultural products on its new platform, www.resimao.net, which was funded by the CEDEAO and developed by a Beninese software company under the technical cover of the MIR Plus project. The RESIMAO aims to integrate all member countries of the CEDEAO and the Committee for the Fight Against Drought in the Sahel (CILSS) into its network. The RESIMAO plays a crucial role in ensuring the availability of market agricultural data in West Africa, facilitating commercial exchanges, and providing information to policymakers and analysts for decision-making. The project's intervention aims to improve the collection of market information to provide efficient information to analysts and policymakers in West Africa. The project's action plan includes diagnosing the organizational and institutional framework of the public SIM network, understanding and grasping the progress made in implementing the integrated work plan developed with the CEDEAO in 2009, and identifying areas for strengthening the activities of the public SIMs. The project also aims to propose and execute axes of collaboration with the RESIMAO and its partners. The RESIMAO has 10 active member countries in the CEDEAO, and it aims to integrate all member countries of the CEDEAO and the CILSS into its network. The project's support to the public SIMs is crucial for improving the collection of market information and providing efficient information to analysts and policymakers in West Africa.