Cereal sim

Since the 1990s, Burkina Faso has set up an information system on the cereal market commonly called SIMc within the research department of SONAGESS. The system takes into account, in addition to dry cereals, other vegetable food products: legumes (cowpea, voandzou), tubers (yam, sweet potato) and some oilseeds (peanuts, sesame). Recently, SIMc has also been collecting information on shea and shea butter, vegetables, traders’ stocks and agricultural inputs.
The objectives currently targeted by the cereals SIM are:

• Ensure the transparency of the grain market by collecting, processing and disseminating information on grain prices,
• contribute to the proper functioning of SONAGESS by providing information on the cereal markets necessary for collection operations (SNS cereal collection) or during technical rotation,
• carry out studies for a better knowledge of the cereal market.

The SIM is expanding its collection network in order to adapt to the new administrative configuration of the country and have at least one representative market for each of the 45 provinces. The general public is informed of the prices on rural radio stations for this information in 16 national languages, in French, and by the publication of weekly and annual bulletins. Steps are underway to harmonize the descriptive codes of the products with the official statistical nomenclature.
Three levels of users can be identified in hierarchical order
State services: CNSA (CRSPC), CT / CNSA (CPG), SONAGESS, CONASUR, SE / CNSA (SP / CPC-SA), DEP / MAHRH, INSD, SP / CPSA, DG-PSA, etc. ;
Institutions: FEWS-NET, FAO, CILSS, SIM of the sub region;
Private: OPA, traders, producers, consulting firms. INERA, NGOs, etc. Independent consultants, students.
Strengths
In terms of food security alert and monitoring
The SIMc supplements the information that is used for monitoring and assessing food security. In addition to aspects related to financial accessibility to food, prices and especially price variations can provide indications as to the state of market supply.
Compared to most other tools, the SIMc offers the advantage of also covering urban areas. The prices provided by the SIMc are regularly used in campaign analyzes and in FEWS-NET bulletins.
Market transparency
The liberalization of the cereal market and the management of the SNS imply a rational approach by the State and the TFPs to avoid too much interference with the cereal markets. Indeed, the constitution of the SNS and the technical rotation of part of this stock require SONAGESS to intervene even indirectly on the market. From this point of view, the SIM provides SONAGESS during reconstitution operations and technical rotations with information enabling it to:

• Determine the optimal selling prices according to the regions,
• check the price trend offered during calls for tenders in the reconstruction of the SNS,
• contribute in the medium term to the establishment of an automated system for tender procedures.

Facilitation of exchanges
The SIMc maintains a directory of operators (traders) and works to establish commercial relations between certain national operators involved in the field of agricultural products. As for producers, they listen to information broadcast on the radio in order to take advantage of market opportunities.
Information, research, and policy formulation
Institutions, students, researchers and independent consultants also use the data published by the SIMc for work on food security or the economy.
Institutional and financial
The basic functioning of the SIMc is fully covered by the state budget.
Weaknesses
Since its establishment, the SIMc has experienced notable and significant improvements which have enabled it to properly fulfill the assigned missions. However, like any system, it has shortcomings.
On the methodological and organizational level.
Too long delays in the information chain,
lack of dissemination of information on prices and availability of agricultural products
other countries, information on the availability of food products, farm gate price records (producer price), non-valuation of the prices of other available foodstuffs (for example, the prices collected by the DG-PSA and the INSD), imprecision of the description and nomenclature of products (white cowpeas / red cowpeas, varieties and qualities of rice, etc.),
insufficient information on international prices, cross-border flows, transport costs, cash crops, price chain and structure.
As other weaknesses, we can mention:

• The difficulties linked to the units of measurement: the multitude and non-standardization of Local Measurement Units (UML), the difficulties of measurement of UML, the instability of the conversion factors between price per standard unit of measurement and price per UML used on the steps ;
• flaws in the analysis: the lack of identification of the explanatory causes of the levels and variations in prices and quantities, very low use of data in a framework for interpreting food security, difficulties in interpretation and understanding of the notion of average weekly prices, non-existence of a price forecasting model, non-existence of a global analysis of market developments;
• communication problems: the data and their analyzes, their support and the transmission channels (bulletin, radio press release, website, etc.) are not differentiated according to the type of public to which they are addressed (government services, private sector, organizations
  farmers, etc.), there are very few summaries (quarterly, annual), modern means of communication are under-exploited (email, interactive web page, etc.), local radio stations are not integrated into the broadcasting network. There is no organization for feedback;
• coordination with the SIMb with a view to reconciling publications and operations was often discussed, without interministerial decisions being implemented, coordination with the INSD and DG-PSA not leading to the enhancement of information on price. Poor collaboration with users of market data prevails;
• monitoring: the weakness of resources and the very small size of the SIMc team limit the monitoring capacities of investigators and field controllers;
• coverage: the intervention of commercial intermediaries outside the markets limits the possibilities of monitoring other types of transactions.

Problems related to the number of staff

• The low number of SIMc staff at the central level slows down the processing and dissemination of information,
• the range of skills of such a small team does not allow for in-depth socio-economic and food security analyzes.

Funding issues

• The lack of budget lines for in-depth studies and the initiation of new activities,
• the SIM is attached to the Operations Department of SONAGESS. Funding for routine activities is fully supported by the state, but extension and innovative activities are dependent on external funding.

Synergies and complementarity

• The complementarity of the SIM is most advanced in the case of the DGPSA, which uses data from the SIM as part of the analysis of the agricultural season and with the INSD for the consumer price index,
• Moreover, under the impetus of the PASIDMA project, the SIMc of Burkina is part of an active network for the exchange of data and experiences at the level of West Africa (RESIMAO).