Transparency in the pricing of agri-food products through the NIRUDI digital platform.

Mwezi is a trader who buys and sells fresh food products. Mwezi country is a predominantly agricultural country. The vast majority of agricultural producers have small farms. Mwezi needs to have reference prices in order to be able to decide where to buy his supplies. Mwezi cannot find prices for different products and from different sellers in the same place. By searching the internet, he found the digital platform NIRUDI, which collects the prices of different products and classifies them to make them available to different visitors. Any seller can enter information about his products on NIRUDI and buyers can easily contact him.

In many countries, a large part of the economically active population earns its livelihood, directly or indirectly, from agriculture and, above all, from subsistence farming. The success of these farmers, herders and agribusinesses has been greatly affected by the lack of access to price information. Farmers often speculate on which crops to grow and what prices to charge at harvest. Some farmers rely on middlemen to dictate prices and, in most cases, the latter exploit the former. For any farmer to make a decent living from farming, it is vital that he or she has easy access to information on market prices.

NIRUDI intends to remedy this critical information gap with the use of ICTs through its NIRUDI Digital Platform that seeks to empower farmers, livestock keepers and agri-food industries to make more informed decisions on market prices and ultimately more successful farming. This agricultural market price information system will also significantly improve the interaction between farmers and traders.

It is expected that, ultimately, groups of farmers, livestock keepers and agri-food industries will be empowered to make their own decisions based on accurate, up-to-date and timely information, contributing greatly to rural development and the fight against poverty.