For years, Mr. Kolineli Bukiki, a maize farmer and grain trader in Sumbawanga, Rukwa Region, operated with little to no access to reliable market information. Like many farmers across Tanzania, he often relied on word-of-mouth updates or outdated price estimates to decide when and where to sell his crops.

“I used to guess the market price,” Kolineli recalls. “Sometimes I sold too early, and the prices went up later. Other times, I waited too long and ended up with losses.”

This uncertainty made it difficult for farmers and traders like Kolineli to plan their businesses, negotiate fair prices, or maximize profits.

Recognizing this gap, the Ministry of Agriculture, with support from the U.S. Government through the ASPIRES Tanzania project, established the Market Information (Intelligence) Unit (MIU) in 2017. The goal: to help farmers, traders, and extension officers access accurate, timely, and easy-to-use agricultural market data.

In 2019, USAID, through the Feed the Future Sera Bora (Better Policies) Project, further strengthened the MIU by providing targeted training and mentorship to 16 technical staff, eight women and eight men at the Ministry of Agriculture. The staff improved their analytical and writing skills and now produce weekly and monthly bulletins summarizing local and regional market prices for key crops such as maize, rice, beans, sorghum, millet, wheat, and round potatoes.

These bulletins, based on over 30 years of price data, are shared through the Ministry’s website (kilimo.go.tz), WhatsApp platforms, and in-person through extension officers across all regions of the country. Today, farmers and traders can easily access this information to make smarter, more confident market decisions.

For Mr. Kolineli, this support has made a major difference.

“Now, I check prices every week on my phone. I know when the market is good, and I decide the best time to sell,” he says. “Since I started using this information, I’ve stopped my profits have improved, and I feel more in control of my business.”