Information Service and Integration of Maize Markets in Togo

In the framework of liberalization policies, a market information service (SIM) was created in 2008 in Togo. This public service entrusted in collecting and disseminating information about the mercurial of agricultural products aimed to improve the spatial integration of agricultural markets through the development of arbitrage. This paper assesses the impact of price dissemination on the spatial integration of maize markets. To this end, the weekly retail maize prices collected from 13 markets for the period without service (2003-2007) and the period with service (2008-2012) are considered. The results show that the impact of price dissemination on the spatial integration of maize markets is mitigated. By reference to Lome, neither rural markets nor northern markets have significantly improved their level of long-term and short-term spatial integration. To improve the efficiency of the service, it is necessary to understand the need of the sector’s stakeholders in order to revise the current format of the market information service.