Operation and results of a vegetable market information and consultation system in Vietnam

This report presents the operation and results of a vegetable market information and consultation system (MICS), set up between 2002 and 2005 in Hanoi, to address marketing problems faced by vegetable farmers. A MICS is a market information system (MIS) combined with debates organised among farmers, traders, and development agents to reach common visions and strategies on marketing. Information collected in the first years relating to indicators of origin and supply deficits was disseminated to farmers and extension agents through newsletters and consultation meetings. The process then focused on making daily prices available, as requested by the farmers. The system was based on a network of contact traders and dissemination was by television. The workshops made it possible to reach a consensus for market opportunities arising from periods of supply deficit for some vegetables and how to take advantage of this situation, especially for tomatoes and cabbage imported from China during the rainy season, which presented some quality differences compared to the local products. With regards to price information, the majority of farmers and traders, surveyed by a quick-impact appraisal, stated they had access through television on a regular basis and that they used price information mostly to bargain with traders. Back up for a permanent ''safe'' vegetable producer and trader association was one of the outputs of the MICS. Our experience shows that price dissemination was easier to sustain (with the involvement of the public sector) than the consultation workshops, generally due to low local capacity in terms of meeting facilitation and the present weakness of extension services and sector organisations. (Résumé d'auteur