Nonparametric Procedures in ICTs-Based Agricultural Market Information Network Pattern Analysis in Western African Regions

Information and communication technology (ICT) has become an important and essential decision support tool in agricultural products marketability. The high production cost of farms and the increasing demand for food have pushed ICT to the forefront of the food supply chain. In developing world such as Sub-Saharan African (SSA) regions where the farm profitability is generally low, efforts have been focused on agronomy and production technologies for enhancing farm productivity. In today’s competitive global and regional marketplaces, however, producing a sound product is not enough to ensure agricultural farm viability. Market information is considered as a prerequisite of farm business to enable the management of the products flow and substantially increase the benefit. Furthermore, ICT can reduce poverty by improving poor people’s access to the market information to have better managerial decisions for maximizing their farms profits. Nevertheless, the realistic availability and effectiveness of ICT in current market information network to farm management in Africa have not yet been much explored. Therefore, this study aims to (i) analyse the ICT contribution in agricultural products market information system (MIS) through nonparametric procedures and (ii) identify the main problems for seeking an effective market-oriented information network pattern. For this study, important data for horticultural marketing have been collected in Saint-Louis and Dakar regions located in Senegal, Western Africa. From the results of this study, it is mainly found that there are different market information network patterns in the survey areas. These market information network patterns mostly rely on weak personal social contacts of producers and one-way media. Statistically, it is observed that some widely available ICTs have not been used effectively for market information dissemination in the survey areas. Basically, the major constraints of ICTs application for MIS in Senegal are the poverty of information contents, disadvantages of the remote communities, language incapability and out-of-date information. Therefore, this study proposes an information network scheme as an effective strategy to enhance the existing market information system in Senegal. Key-Words:ICT, MIS, horticultural marketing, information network pattern, farm profit, effective strategy, Western African regions