Dear AGRODEP colleagues,
IFPRI's Food Security Portal (FSP) has been featuring global price data and price volatility measurements for major agricultural commodities since 2010, following the world food crisis of 2007-2008. The FSP also serves as repository of domestic food price data in selected countries. Since monitoring food prices in local markets has become even more important in light of the health pandemic, the FSP recently launched the COVID-19 food price monitor which currently includes prices in selected markets in India, Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda.
The FSP would like to expand its coverage of agricultural price data in African countries to be included in the food price monitor. I am writing to ask for your help in identifying reliable data sources and data availability in African countries. We are interested in data sources, coverage (farmgate, wholesale, retail, wet markets), frequency of data (daily, weekly, monthly), commodities covered, markets/cities covered.
For East Africa, for example, we rely on the Regional Agricultural Trade Intelligence Network (RATIN) for wholesale and retail price data on several agricultural commodities in Bujumbura (Burundi), Gicumbi (Rwanda), and Kampala (Uganda). We welcome other sources of data covering other key markets and potential validation of existing data. These price data may be available from the Ministry of Agriculture or other private/public institutions in your country. At this time we are interested in price data in countries in East Africa and West African.
Please share with me information on data sources, coverage, frequency, commodities, and markets covered. If you are interested and available to collaborate with the FSP in supplying the data on a regular basis, please also let me know.
It would be great if I can hear back from you at your earliest convenience or by Friday, May 15, 2020. I can be reached at b.dimaranan@cgiar.org.