Institute conducts research on Market Information

BDU’s Economic Research Institute partnering with Bureau of Trade and Transport (BoTT) of the Amhara National Regional State (ANRS) has conducted a research on Marketing Information (MI) challenges of some of the selected horticultural products, onions and potatoes with a specific focus on Mecha and Fogera.

The researchers, focusing on the market information challenges observed from pre-harvest to postharvest periods, have conducted the study on farmers, retailers, consumers, brokers, traders and wholesalers. Organizations directly or indirectly involved in the dissemination of information have also been considered.

The study has unveiled that the MI communication strategy was very much hierarchical, lengthy and inefficient, and it was also difficult to convey timely information to target groups.

The major challenge revealed was that the existing means of communication didn't have a mechanism to check whether the information system is serving the farmers or not, or even whether the information is actually reaching the targets or not. Due to this, the communication strategies were proven to be inefficient. In addition, the communication strategies were not research-based.

To deal with these challenges, the following recommendations were made. MI can be provided through permanent regional radio in magazine format. The Regional Television can be used to provide MPI to traders, brokers and consumers singling out onions and potatoes. A mobile phone could be used for MPI.