The State of Eritrea

Ministry of Agriculture Newsletter

A Monthly Newsletter Prepared by the Public Relations Division, Issue No 55, January, 2023

HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2023

Eritrea: Agricultural Market Highlights
Facts that Show the Country’s Resilience to Global Food Crisis
Information has predominantly become asindispensable as the enduring top human needs
such as food, shelter and clothing. Availability ofaccurate information, as a valuable asset, favours
individual or institution existence, whereas
its insufficiency or total deprivation has direconsequence. Hence, no wonder that information isbeing utilized in a strategically systematized mannerand as a determining factor in all spheres during
this revolutionary age of information. Application ofAgricultural Market Information Systems, being oneof these domains, makes great impact in gauging
the performance of the agricultural sector.
With the rapid pace of ICT development weare witnessing that, an innovative agricultural
information system could be introduced to collect,produce, analize, consolidate, as well as distributedata and information with the goal of enhancing
knowledge utilization on the part of agricultural
producers and other interested parties. A wellestablished agricultural information system can1

facilitate access to information on the part offarmers and a variety of users (Including extension
experts, researchers and decision-makers) pursuing
agricultural inputs, education on extension
programs, knowledge of agricultural technology,
credit programs, and marketing information, among
others.
Farmers and different other users can makeeffective decision and successfully benefit frompotential market opportunities, given effective
and efficient dissemination of relevant, timely aswell as reliable information among others. In an
overall context, proper utilization of accurate andup-to-date data, coupled with mobilization of thenecessary expertise thereof, enhances agricultural
productivity.

Mr. Tesfalem Mesfun

market price data, we make the information
available to consumers in a very simple way; forexample, in the form of a report, short messages,
or graphs.”

The Eritrean Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) managed
to establish the Agricultural Strategic Information
System Division (ASISD) in 2019 with the aim toreinforce the ministry’s geographic information
systems, agricultural expert systems, information
technology, agricultural market information
systems, agricultural innovation systems, andagricultural meteorology.

People who are engaged in agricultural activities
can make informed decisions if they have real-time
information on the agricultural market. Agricultural
producers may choose, with ease, which crop togrow, when and what to sell. Likewise, traders canmake good choice concerning when and where tobuy; processors can also make reasonable decisions
on what product to buy, at what time in orderfor them to stay in course, and to provide to thecommunity value added products. The government
can also benefit from accurate and timely commodity
prices to fine-tune its agricultural policies.

Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS)
Unit became a part of this new division and its main
objective is to enable farmers to make important
decisions with regards to their agricultural
productivity and season of production, i.e. basedon the use of accurate, timely, and relevant market
information.

Mr. Tesfalem goes on to say that AMIS was tasked
with the collection, processing, and communicationof local market prices and accordingly the unit has
been collecting price data from a total of 23 market
places, namely, Mendfera, Adi-Quala, Debarwa, AdiKeyih Mai-Ayni and Areza in the Southern Red Sea
Region; Barentu, Akurdet, Golij, Teseney, Haikotaand Tokombia in Gash-Barka Region; Massawa,Ghindae, She’ib and Af’abet in the Northern Red Sea
Region; Keren, Adi-Tekelezan, Elaber’id, and Hagazin Anseba Region; as well as Asmara, Serejeka andHimbirti in the Central Region.”

Mr. Tesfalem Mesfun, Director of ASISD, points outthat AMIS was set up by the Ministry to undertake
systematic collection, analysis, and disseminationof prices and other relevant information whichis important to farmers, traders, processors,consumers and other parties interested in priority
agricultural commodities.
He further shed light on the technical details of theprocess as follows: “Market areas, potential buyers
and sellers, government monitoring services,and other institutions are among the formal andinformal sources from which we collect data. Our
office processes and examines collected data to
make sure that it is accurate and identifies pricing
variations from one location to another, or across aperiod of time, as well as the reasons behind theseprice discrepancies. After processing and evaluating

So far, AMIS has been focusing on a total of 53
commodities which include all types of cereals (likesorghum, pearl millet, maize, barley, wheat andtaff); vegetables (onion, tomato, potato, and green
vegetables); fruits (orange and banana); pulses(lentil, chickpea, and beans); livestock (cow, oxen,goat, and sheep); poultry (chick and egg); dairy

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products (Milk and butter); and honey, in addition
to transport animals.

major agricultural commodities from few markets
in these regions. Currently, market prices gatheredfrom various regions of the country are processedto create meaningful data. Trends of pricevariations across market locations and seasons areassessed properly to gauge the performance of theagricultural sector.”

The unit plans to extend its activities to the Southern
Red Sea region this year.
SMS is regularly used on market days of each week
and on a regular basis, to gather data, mainly prices
along with a few related details, from all of themarketplaces of the four regions. During sudden pricefluctuations, the AMIS office conducts situational
analyses to verify the reliability of the collected data.
The data is then processed to analyse market prices
in the country’s various regions. Spreadsheets andother databases are applied to produce meaningful
information that can easily be understood by users.
Market information is shared among internal andexternal stakeholders for different purposes and aquarterly report is prepared for MoA’s management
board so as to serve as a benchmark for evaluating
the current agricultural outputs, as well as thelocal market situation. Besides, the fact that thisoffice is working to adopt advanced data-gathering
techniques in a bid to minimizing errors is equallyworth-mentioning. Therefore, the office is striving
to strengthen its human and institutional capacity
in order to conduct in-depth analyses.

The following statistical explanation, and theaccompanying graphs, constitute a summary ofAMIS Unit’s report on price trends of cereal crops,legumes and oil crops, vegetables and fruits, aswell as livestock and livestock products from March
2020 to November 2022. We may also notice atrend of relatively minimal impact of the COVID-19
Pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war on theseprices, contrary to the awful global scenario.
Market Information on Cereal Crops
Cereal prices increased significantly in the thirdquarter of 2020, i.e. during the Covid-19 pandemic;
and then began to decline in 2021 and 2022. The
lowest record was shown in October and November,
2021 and 2022 respectively. With the increasing
cultivation of improved wheat and sorghum seeds,
the price witnessed a decline in late 2021 and 2022,
during harvesting season and prices showed a slightincrease during the cultivation season (June toSeptember 2020, 2021, and 2022), which is obvious.

Moreover, AMIS is planning to widen its datacollection schemes by further targeting essential
agricultural inputs such as seeds, fertilizers,pesticides and the like, Mr. Tesfalem explains.

A considerable decline in price was observed on theabove mentioned grains during the fourth quarterof 2022, especially in Mendefera, the SouthernRegion. This may be related to a number of factors,
including an attribution to the last rainy season’sabundance and increased wheat cultivation, in theSouthern Region.
(See Graph 1 below)

Mr. Tesfalem further elaborates that it wasmonitoring the revival of the AMIS Unit in March
2020 that data on prices of the 53 agricultural
products started to be gathered regularly from theabove-stated 23 market locations. “Prior to this, i.e.
for more than 20 years,” he says, “The Ministry ofAgriculture used to sporadically collect prices ofGraph 1. Cereal Price Trends from March 2020 to November 2022 (per quintal)

3Market Information on Pulses and Oil Crops

farmers producing the same commodity at the sametime, weather effects, interference of middlemen
and compounded by water shortage in wells anddams. In the second half of 2021 and the first half of2022, the price of potato, for example, was as low
as 14 Nakfa; while it rose gradually during the entire
rainy season due to shortage of rain in the Azmera
season of 2022, which resulted in the exhaustionof the water levels of many wells and microdams.
Ultimately, a slight decline in potato price wasLegumes, like cereals, witnessed considerable priceincreases during the third quarter of 2020, whichcoincides with the time of high Covid-19 pandemic
impact. In general, oil crops showed non-significant
rise in price in 2021 and 2022 as compared topulses, which, to the contrary ended up in aconsiderable price decline. In 2022, the cost ofgroundnut particularly increased. Just like cereals,

Graph 2. Pulses and Oil crops Price Trends from March 2022 to November 2022 (per quantal)

pulses are expected to show a modest drop during
the begining of 2023, thanks to the better harvest
due to the good rainy season this year. (See graph 2)

observed during the fourth quarter of 2022. (Seegraph 3)

Market Information on Vegetables
Between 2020 and 2022, vegetable prices generallyvaried greatly from season to season, and from one
region and market location to another. For instance,
the price of potato varied greatly ranging from 10 to30 Nakfa per Kg. Similarly, the price of tomato variedwith a great gap from one season to another. The
price of tomato, in the fourth quarter of December,
was as low as 5 Nakfa per Kg, while it spiked as highas 30 Nakfa per Kg during the rainy season in thethird quarter. This variation is most likely due toGraph 3. Vegetable Price Trends from March 2022 to November 2022 (per Kilogram)

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Market Information on Fruits
With the exception of mango, which maintained
high prices throughout the three years, 2020-2022,
fruit prices have not varied considerably during
this period of time. Fruits typically experience
price fluctuations during and off-market days. (SeeGraph 4)

Graph 4. Fruits Trends Price from March 2022 to November 2022 (per Kilogram)Market Information on Livestock and Poultry

only minor changes were noted from month tomonth. Sheep and goat prices in particular werefairly uniform. (Graph 5)

The average prices of livestock didn’t have major
variation. In the course of the previous three years,

Graph 5. Livestock and Poultry Price Trends from March 2022 to November 2022 (per head)5

Market Information on Egg, Milk and Yogurt
Although egg prices fluctuated significantly in theCentral region, the country’s average prices haveremained nearly constant over the previous threeyears. In Asmara, the prices of eggs witnessed a sharp
increase in early 2022. This is due to the delayed
importation of day-old and month-old chicks, which
has affected major commercial poultry farmers. Milkand yogurt prices have remained nearly constantthrough these years, however, the demands thereof
decrease during the fasting season. (See Graph 6)
Graph 6. Milk, Yogurt, and Egg Price Trends from March 2022 to November 2022 (Milk and Yogurt per litter and egg
per one egg)

Market Information on Ghee and Honey
The prices of ghee and honey did not show
considerable change in 2020, 2021, and 2022 but
there were slight fluctuations from month to month.
It has been noted that honey prices vary from one
administrative region to another. In the course of
the past three years, the price of honey ranged from150 to 180 Nakfa per kilogram in the Central region,and from 150 to 325 Nakfa in Gash-Barka Region.
Exceptionally, a few marketplaces in Gash-Barka

region, namely, Tokombia and Akurdet, reported
lack of availability of honey in late 2021.
(See Graph 7)
Market Information on Transport (pack) Animals
The prices of donkeys remained almost uniform in2020, 2021 and 2022. However, the price of camels
showed a great decline over this period of time.
***Graph 7. Ghee and Honey Price Trends from March 2022 to November 2022 (per Kilogram)

Editor-In-Chief: Ermias Solomon, Director of Public Relations Division: Email:- ersohab@gmail.com, Tel: 182225/ 07143877
Editorial Board: Filmawit Measho, Andemeskel Berhe; Line Editor: Medhanie Tsegai
Photo Credit: Aradom Bereket, Habteab Andemariam, Abraham Berhane, Tomas Mehari, MoA Archives

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