Agricultural Market Information Services in Developing Countries: A Review

Abstract

Access to agricultural markets and marketing information are essential factors in promoting competitive markets and improving agricultural sector development. The agricultural sector employs majorities in developing countries and it contributes greatly to the development of these countries. Unluckily, majorities of the farmers are smallholders living in isolated rural areas and thus lack appropriate access to markets for their products and also they are deprived of agricultural market information. As a lack of these, smallholder farmers are exploited by greedy traders and receive low prices for their agricultural produce. This study has explored the use of agricultural market information services in linking smallholder farmers to markets, especially in sub-Sahara developing countries. Origin of, the needs for, and the current status of agricultural market information services in developing countries are clearly presented. Lastly, the study explored the limitation of the success of most agricultural market information services in sub-Sahara developing countries.