Photo Credit: Jonathan W. Rosen
In Malawi, accurate information on farm gate prices is hard to obtain. Most agricultural price monitoring focuses on retail prices, and only the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development (MoAIWD) through its Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) collects data on farm gate prices across the country. However, AMIS data collection of farm gate prices only occurs infrequently and in some years, resulting in many data gaps.
To identify a method to close these gaps, IFPRI has started a pilot study of crowdsourcing farm gate prices from 13 districts in southern Malawi through the Farm Radio Trust (FRT) platform. Funded by the UK Department of International Development (DFID), the study selected pigeon peas and chickpeas because their marketing period peaks in August and September, a different time from most other crops. The study began on August 15 and is expected to be completed by mid-October.
The pilot asks farmers to report the prices they receive via SMS or by calling a toll-free number whenever they sell pigeon peas or chickpeas during the 2019 marketing season. To increase awareness about the pilot, FRT pushes text messages to approximately 150,000 farmers in the southern regions of Malawi. In addition, three local radio stations (Mzati FM, Gaka FM, and Angaliba TV and FM) are airing radio jingles in local dialects about the pilot throughout the study period. To encourage farmer participation, calls and text messages are entered into a weekly draw, in which the winners receive a coupon worth MWK25,000, which can be redeemed for farm inputs at any Agora farm input outlets in the South.
Preliminary findings
Within the first four weeks of the pilot, a total of 271 pigeon pea farmers and 33 chickpea farmers reported sales prices and other information to Farm Radio Trust. More than 80 percent of respondents were male and around 90 percent of the prices reported came from sales to vendors (Figure 1). The farm gate was the most commonly reported location for sales, with 46.5 percent of pigeon pea and 60.6 percent of chickpea sales taking place on farm, followed by local markets with 37.3 percent and 24.2 percent respectively. Most respondents came from Balaka and Zomba, which are principal pigeon and chickpea producing districts.
*Click on Figure 1 for full view.
Table 1 provides an overview of the average selling prices and quantities reported. Prices received by farmers for pigeon peas ranged from MWK32/kg to MWK550/kg. The mean and median selling price was MWK260/kg and the average quantity sold was 419.2 kg. For chickpeas, the mean price was MWK189.5/kg, while the median price was MWK150/kg. The mean quantity of chickpeas sold was 227.3 kg, while the median quantity sold was 120 kg. The prices gathered for chickpeas ranged from MWK70/kg to MWK450/kg.
* Click on Table 1 for full view.
The minimum farm gate prices set by the MoAIWD are currently MWK330/kg for pigeon peas and MWK310/kg for chickpeas. Only 10 percent of the prices reported by farmers in the pilot were above these minimum prices. The average prices reported by farmers were below the minimum farm gate prices by 21 percent and 39 percent for pigeon peas and chickpeas, respectively.
Looking ahead
Crowdsourcing farm gate prices can augment data collected by AMIS at relatively low cost. This will allow for robust price analysis to inform policy makers on the effectiveness of price policies and facilitates market efficiency. Furthermore, such data could aid in the analysis of farm gate-retail margins and examine the deviations of actual prices from the official government announced minimum farm gate prices. In the longer term, better price information and more competitive farm gate prices may be expected stimulate increased production of many crops.
Find here the final project report published in December 2019.
