In African territorial markets, every commodity is controlled by specialists Among several characteristics that make African territorial markets different from markets in other parts of the world is that most food commodities are controlled by specialists. These specialists are passionate traders who stick with a commodity through thick and thin. While opportunists may switch from Read more about In African territorial markets, every commodity is controlled by specialists[…]

The way agricultural commodities and natural food products move through African territorial markets demonstrate how food distribution is largely driven by undocumented knowledge and distribution systems.  Key questions include: How do territorial markets reach a price when there is no business analyst? How do they use marketing strategies like discounts without a credit controller?  Why Read more about African food markets thrive on undocumented knowledge and systems[…]

Why crop and livestock assessments should not just end at production level For several years, many African countries have become obsessed with conducting crop and livestock assessments during the rainfall-driven summer cropping season. However, such assessments have only ended at production with no systems for tracking what happens to crops after they are harvested. A Read more about Why crop and livestock assessments should not just end at production level[…]

Most of the products and innovations currently used in the world originated from schools, colleges and universities in the Global North, China and Japan. These countries have demonstrated how learning institutions can be fertile grounds for generating totally new solutions for society through cultivating attention to detail within learners. Why has it remained difficult for Read more about What prevents formal education systems from cultivating attention to detail[…]

The role of indigenous food in celebrating heroes and ancestral wisdom In addition to a national flag and a national anthem, almost all countries have heroes and founding ancestors who are celebrated religiously as part of rooting current generations to their source and sense of identity.  Indigenous food may not be mentioned in the same Read more about The role of indigenous food in celebrating heroes and ancestral wisdom[…]

In most African countries that depend on agriculture, policies are often blamed for poor economic performance and failure to improve the lives of ordinary people. While policy documents may make a lot of sense, the devil is in the implementation details.  What breaks or makes a policy is disciplined documentation of implementation steps including assumptions Read more about Why policies should be anchored on disciplined documentation[…]

One of the questions that have not received adequate answers for decades is: Who really sets prices in self-organized African mass markets? Formal markets like supermarkets may have a board that seats down to determine prices after examining costs and other factors. What happens in open mass markets?  Every open market has an invisible cartel Read more about Understanding pricing models is more important than the capacity to produce[…]

Some of the most powerful instincts about African agriculture and food systems are found only in territorial mass markets where the majority of smallholder farmers sell their commodities and the majority of low-income consumers get their food. That is why investment in data analyses is more important than collecting data for its own sake. Much Read more about Giving farmers, commodities and consumers a voice through market data[…]

Most market infrastructure built for vendors and low-income entrepreneurs in African countries end up abandoned due to lack of consultation – making the infrastructure less fit for purpose. In the spirit of fostering socio-economic justice, communities should be empowered to lead in building their own markets. Top-down solutions may be well-intentioned but people closest to Read more about Enabling communities to build their own markets fosters economic justice Most market infrastructure[…]