Projects will strengthen agricultural market information systems

With the aim of generating projects that provide transparency and strengthen the technological capabilities of agricultural market information systems (SIMA) in Latin America and the Caribbean, experts from different countries in the hemisphere will participate in a meeting in Costa Rica, in Fab Lab (Digital Manufacturing Laboratory) of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).

The meeting will take place from January 28th to 30th and is organized by IICA with the participation of Cenfotec University, the company Accenture, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the National Animal Health Service (SENASA) of Costa Rica.

Representatives of SIMA from Canada, Chile, Ecuador, United States, Guatemala and Saint Lucia, member countries of the Agricultural Market Information Organization of the Americas (OIMA, made up of 33 countries in the hemisphere) and who are part of an advisory panel, will participate in the meeting. in information and communication technologies of that organization.

At the meeting, a regional work plan in this area will be developed to strengthen SIMA. Opportunities and areas of work will also be identified to formulate projects that help meet agricultural information needs in countries and establish a roadmap for MIOA.

The activity will seek to build proposals for data collection tools for market reporters (in charge of collecting information about agricultural products), data processing and the various SIMA services. The development of a platform or program for disseminating reports and formulating strategies for feedback from producers will also be promoted.

“For users, the design of these proposals should help provide transparency to the market and allow you to make more informed decisions about production and marketing,” said Terry Long, president of OIMA.