With the support of IICA, the hemispheric organization MIOA will strengthen tools to collect, disseminate and exchange information on agricultural market prices

San José, 13 December 2022 (IICA) - Encouraging networking among the different regions of the hemisphere, in order to promote activities that efficiently disseminate information on agricultural market prices with the support of digital technologies, is the objective of the Market Information Organization of the Americas (MIOA), with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) in charge of its Technical Secretariat.
 
At the meeting of the MIOA member and partner countries, held at IICA Headquarters in San José, the 26 participating delegations agreed to move forward with a project to design a data dashboard and an application gathering country-specific price information on agricultural products.
 
The state of progress of the product catalogs of each region of the Americas was also highlighted in the meeting. These catalogs make it possible to easily locate information and characteristics of common products for the same region.
 
Kimberly Mercer, chairwoman of the MIOA and delegate from the United States, stressed that this organization complements national efforts to seek support mechanisms that allow institutions of member countries to strengthen their systems, grant and receive support from other nations, and expand their capacity to generate, process, and disseminate information among stakeholders in the agricultural sector of the Americas.
 
Rodrigo Li Guzmán, general manager of the Integral Agricultural Marketing Program (PIMA) of Costa Rica, commented that thanks to MIOA's support, they have been able to train their staff and exchange experiences with other countries.
 
"For PIMA, it is very important to participate in this type of organization, especially because of the vast experience they have in issues such as the training of data collectors, statistics, and dissemination and management of information. This allows us to integrate our information with the one produced in different segments and in other countries, with the goal of creating a regional information system that benefits all the stakeholders”, stated Li Guzmán.
 
As part of the activities of the meeting in Costa Rica, the participants of the MIOA meeting visited the National Center for Food Supply and Distribution (CENADA), to learn about the on-site price collection process and to engage in dialogue about the different characteristics of a market information system such as the one used by this country.

More information:
Institutional Communication Division.
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int