African Agricultural Market Information Network (AFAMIN)

Access to technical, socioeconomic, policy, market and trade information is essential for agricultural development and food security. In West Africa, several countries have market information systems (MIS), which allow the assessment of constraints and opportunities for agricultural inputs and outputs in the world market. However, most countries in the subregion do not have the means nor the capacities to locate necessary information and more importantly even to package the information collected in a readily usable form. Based on its past experience with the African Fertilizer Trade and Market Information Network (AFTMIN), IFDC-Africa is promoting the creation and development of a regional association of MISs and private, public, and professional institutions involved in agricultural information. The mission of this association, referred to as AFAMIN (African Agricultural Market Information Network), is to gather, organize, and disseminate information collected by national stakeholders and from regional and global sources. Its main instrument is a website, www.afamin.net  http://www.afamin.net, which has the uniqueness of being interactive and decentralized since the national web pages are managed by local members of the association. IFDC-Africa will play the role of coordinator and facilitator of the association, which should be able to attain full autonomy by 2004. This project has received the technical support of FADINAP (www.fadinap.org  http://www.fadinap.org) and currently involves 4 countries: Togo, Ghana, Nigeria and Mali, with the target of 10 member countries of the subregion by the year 2002.

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