Xingwana during the launch of the Agricultural Marketing Information System,
CSIR Convention Centre, Pretoria
2 March 2007
Honourable guests
Farmers
Industry
Members of the press
Ladies and gentlemen
Global and domestic trade and marketing in agricultural products is turning
trillions of rands and facilitating the exchange of massive tons of various
agricultural tradable commodities per day. At the same time, traders and
merchants across the globe are challenged to source saleable commodities from
all corners of the world, in an attempt to satisfy the needs of their ever
demanding customers, at a minimum cost and still manage to make some
profit.
Producers, processors and manufacturers alike invest millions of r nds per
day in an attempt to try to understand what consumers want and how to satisfy
the consumers' needs at prices that consumers are willing and able to pay. At
the same time, consumers are always on their toes trying to get a fair value
for their money, i.e., bargains in their buying decisions. At the centre of the
complex scenario painted above is the availability of information to aid
decision-making.
The South African government deregulated agricultural markets and
liberalised trade in line with global trends. This implies that our
agricultural marketing and trading value chains have become an integral part of
the global agricultural markets and trade. This policy shift ensured that South
African farmers could export a range of agricultural produce to the rest of the
world and use the benefit created by expanded market access to expand their
farming operations. However, a challenge arising out of the new trading and
marketing dispensation is that farmers are now required to become sharp
entrepreneurs and be able to take managerial decisions in terms of what to
produce, how and for whom to produce, in line with contemporary market
requirements.
The ability of farmers to respond intelligently to the production and
marketing challenges just posed above rest on their ability to access,
interpret and apply the basic agricultural marketing information in their
agribusinesses. It has however, been observed that the fees charged for
accessing the required agricultural marketing information is, in most
instances, prohibitively high and not affordable, particularly to the
resource-poor farmers, thus leaving them with no option but to dispose of their
produce at uneconomic prices. Furthermore, the publicly available information
is more often than not historical, and its validity is sometimes
questionable.
Owing to deregulation, the agricultural marketing chain got complicated
through the introduction of different business activities, different flows of
products called 'marketing channels' and different firms called 'middlemen'
performing the following two major functions to achieve:
* operational efficiency through physical handling of produce, storage,
processing and transfer of agricultural products as they move from producers to
consumers
* pricing efficiency through facilitating the exchange of agricultural produce
and price-setting processes in the market system.
I am convinced that the availability of prompt and reliable market
information on what is happening in the market and what prices are quoted for
different commodities considerably improves the decision making capability of
the farmers and strengthens their bargaining power.
After noting the apparent information gap, and realising that marketing
information is an intelligence and a competitive tool in the marketplace, my
department developed a web-based agricultural marketing information system to
integrate isolated agricultural marketing information on one platform, and to
use it as a channel to disseminate basic agricultural marketing information to
the farming community across South Africa and even beyond.
This launch of the agricultural marketing information system was preceded by
a number of consultations with provincial departments of agriculture, private
sector information providers, as well as industry players to determine the
agricultural marketing information needs of farmers and also to figure out what
should be done to reduce the information gap challenges identified. The
consultations matured into the system that I am proudly launching today.
Currently, the agricultural marketing information system hosts and
disseminates the following information:
* dynamic maps indicating the location of all fresh produce markets,
millers, ginners, abattoirs and grain silos across the country
* daily prices, qualities and quantities of selected fresh produce sold on the
major national fresh produce markets across the country
* fresh produce market-related information including market fees and names and
contact details of market agents and market masters
* an e-library containing agricultural commodity marketing value chain profiles
of field crops, livestock and horticulture industries in South Africa to give
farmers an insight on the structure of the industries in South Africa
* grading and packaging legislation, as well as information toolkits on
grading
* pictorial information kits on the generic approach to agricultural marketing,
livestock auctioneering, and grading of selected agricultural products
available in all languages
* quarterly agricultural economic review and forecast reports.
To demonstrate our commitment as an integral part of the global markets, the
system is also hyperlinked to more than 60 other domestic and international
sources of market information on field crops, livestock and horticultural
industries as an attempt to broaden the information base.
For example, the system is hyperlinked to the South African Grains
Information Services (SAGIS), Freshmark System, USDA, FAO, SAFEX, AgriTV, First
National Bank Agricultural Services, SAMIC, etc.
Noting that almost every household has access to a cellphone, it is
therefore my vision to see the system expanded to have cellphone connectivity
capabilities to allow users to easily download the information on their mobile
phones. Watch the space! In preparation for the launch, the department has
already trained twelve (12) provincial personnel on how to use the system. I
expect the number to multiply as a commitment to providing services to my
employers, the farming community I work for.
There will never be any growth, prosperity and competitiveness in
agriculture if this key link between production and commercialisation of
agricultural products is compromised. I therefore call on all private sector
suppliers of information to come forward and assist the department to
continuously improve on what we have already started.
For me, this launch marks the beginning of a very long journey, and I urge
all to establish a powerful private-partnership around this initiative started
by my department towards a united and prosperous agricultural sector in South
Africa. To all the farmers who are here today, this is an intervention intended
to assist you to become knowledgeable, competitive and profitable in the
agricultural marketplace. I therefore officially declare the system open for
public, and again, urge all the farmers to use the tool to link up with the
mainstream agricultural markets globally.
System Access
The Agricultural Marketing Information System may be accessed at the
following internet address http://www.agis.agric.za/mis.
Issued by: Ministry of Agriculture and Land Affairs
2 March 2007
Source: Department of Agriculture (http://www.nda.agric.za)
