{"id":3454,"date":"2026-11-09T09:55:56","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T09:55:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.emkambo.co.zw\/?p=3454"},"modified":"2026-11-09T09:55:58","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T09:55:58","slug":"informal-undocumented-processes-that-influence-market-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.emkambo.co.zw\/?p=3454","title":{"rendered":"Informal undocumented processes that influence market performance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In many African cities, when it rains toward the end of the day, prices of tomatoes and leafy vegetables go down the following day. Why and how? Many consumers buy tomatoes and vegetables on their way home from work. In high density areas, along roadsides and at bus stops, end of day is when business is high for vendors. Sudden rainfall causes commuters to skip buying as they run for shelter either into near-by buildings or into Matatu\/Kombis waiting to take them home. Vegetables that are not bought become compete with fresh ones coming tomorrow. As if that is not enough, sudden rainfall in African cities often causes traffic jams, creating transport shortages which also triggers an increase in transport fares from one dollar to dollar fifty or sometimes two dollars, which was supposed to buy tomatoes if it had not rained.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Knowledge that people possess but rarely document<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While not documented, the above scenario has enormous influence on market performance. It\u2019s part of what knowledge scholars call tacit knowledge, which is the most valuable knowledge but the hardest to capture. Capturing this knowledge is much harder in large mass markets and farming communities where thousands of farmers and traders possess specialised knowledge spread across commodities and value chains, contractual relationships, business units, financial models and locations. The knowledge asset is the network of value chain actors, experiences, decisions, and outcomes connected to diverse commodities traded in the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The market is more than supply and demand<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mass market traders have years of hard-earned judgement, customer insights, relationship history, workarounds, lessons from failures, and the intuition that cannot be easily captured in a document. This interconnected knowledge ecosystem shows how supply and demand are just part of a complex market functionality. For instance, differences in transport have a bearing on costs although quality and prices of commodities may be the same. More importantly, relationships and trust are the bedrock of the market in ways that influence price setting.  It is not just about forces of supply and demand as communities consider various issues when setting prices. Sometimes its kinship-based relationships and sometimes traditional leadership is part of the transactions. All that influences price setting more than forces of supply and demand. Some information leakages are closed by informal traders who are the key informants. These can provide information on volumes of commodities that are lost on-farm, what is lost in transit and at the market. Most of this information can only be availed by people who participate in the market regularly.  Since they are in and out of the market most of the time, farmers lack some of these insights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opportunities for combining practical wisdom with documentation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 90% of active participants in agriculture such as farmers and traders do not use documents. They depend on their practical wisdom and daily practices that are largely undocumented and remain fluid. However, a complex ecosystem like a mass market must not depend on undocumented practical wisdom forever. Opportunities can only be made visible through evidence gathering, processing and sharing. This is critical for all types of investments ranging from private, social investment to local and government investments. As long as information is scattered, evidence-based policy making or intervention are impossible. It also difficult to attract investment in a competitive environment where countries are competing for Foreign Direct Investment FDI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Countries that prioritize evidence will certainly win the war for talent and FDI, irrespective of availability of natural resources. Without evidence, it is difficult to see growth pathways for different classes of farmers or the entire agriculture sector.  Where is the smallholder farmer going? For the past 20 years, smallholder farmers have been taking commodities to mass markets like Mbare. How have their livelihoods changed? Such questions cannot be answered without documented evidence. Documentation can also anchor the development of value chains and business models linked to production zones and export markets. The absence of evidence is the main reason why it is now difficult for banks to work with farmers. Most of the farmers who sell through mass markets where   transactions are mostly in cash will need to be convinced about the value of embracing formal online markets where they can develop transaction histories as part of financial inclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If properly introduced through markets and agribusiness hubs documentation can capture critical details like volumes of commodities coming from each farmer, history of the farmer, household consumption and other important trends. This will address rent seeking and cases where traders masquerade as farmers and end up benefiting from incentives intended for smallholder farmers. Corruption is not only a cancer in government. The private sector and NGO sectors have become too corrupt in ways that disadvantage farmers. Predatory practices are common because accountability systems are missing. ICTs and related infrastructure can address most of these issues by creating a rhythm for accountability. Agribusiness hubs can show farmers\u2019 capacity to produce, local consumption, tendency to juggle diverse complementary commodities and other coping mechanisms among farmers that have a bearing on rolling out financial inclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data, documentation and evidence can guide infrastructure development<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mass markets and agricultural hubs can also inform acquisition of appropriate technology. They can also inform re-purposing strategies and a change of mind set from the traditional notion of irrigation schemes to the modern market-driven irrigation system. It is no longer sensible to simply build a dam on the assumption that people will come and use the water. Infrastructure development should be informed by the market. What infrastructure connects markets with the urban population?  Knowledge for answering such questions is currently not stored in documents but exists in experiences, conversations, decisions, and the judgement of traders, farmers, vendors, transporters and many other market actors who have solved problems before together. However, documentation can add value by ensuring these experiences and lessons remain accessible, discoverable, and connected to farmers, traders, vendors, researchers and other people who need them most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charles@knowledgetransafrica.com<\/a>  \/ charles@emkambo.co.zw<\/a> \/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

info@knowledgetransafrica.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Website: www.emkambo.co.zw<\/a> \/ www.knowledgetransafrica.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mobile: 0772 137 717\/ 0774 430 309\/0712737430<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In many African cities, when it rains toward the end of the day, prices of tomatoes and leafy vegetables go down the following day. Why and how? Many consumers buy tomatoes and vegetables on their way home from work. In high density areas, along roadsides and at bus stops, end of day is when business Read more about Informal undocumented processes that influence market performance<\/span>[…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107,25,19,3,106,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-107","category-agri-bussiness","category-agricultural-intelligence","category-agricultural-markets","category-charles-dhewa","category-emkambo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emkambo.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emkambo.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emkambo.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emkambo.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emkambo.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3454"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.emkambo.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3456,"href":"http:\/\/www.emkambo.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3454\/revisions\/3456"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emkambo.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emkambo.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emkambo.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emkambo.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}