This dissertation addresses three sets of questions: (1) what evidence is there that supports the premises that second-generation agricultural Market Information System (MIS) models are likely to meet user needs and become financially sustainable relative to first-generation models? (2) How have different MIS models tried to address the generic design issues of any MIS and what are the relative advantages of different models of MIS in addressing those challenges? (3) What factors affect the reception of improved agricultural market information among smallholder farmers in Mozambique; and how does reception of improved agricultural market information affect their marketing behavior?The key findings are that: (1) there is great heterogeneity among MIS in terms of their structure and conduct design issues. (2) Whether or not an MIS is government-based explains very little in terms of its performance. What matters is the: (a) mandate, (b) financial and managerial autonomy, (c) information and communication technology (ICT) used in transmission and diffusion, (d) funding strategy, (e) quality control methods, and (f) feedback methods of the MIS. (3) All MIS types still heavily depend on donor funding for sustainability. (4) Private MIS do not engage in policy analysis compared to government supported MIS, but could provide data to units that do. (6) There is a rapidly evolving market environment in terms of (a) market actors, and (b) ICT availability and usage. (5) It is difficult to analyze the key design issues of MIS independent of overall environment in which they operate.From the econometric analysis of a two-year panel household data set for four provinces in Mozambique, the study finds that the generic factors that influence the reception of improved agricultural market information include involvement in growing of marketable staples, access to alternative information and communication technologies, and access to markets and extension services. The specific factors include: growing maize, large and small groundnuts; owning a radio; presence of a cell phone network in the village; proximity to a road with public transport; membership to farmer association; access to extension services; level of education; the agro ecological zone of households; and distance to village administrative post. Holding other factors constant, reception of market information increases farmers' probability of market participation by 34 percent.The average price difference per kilogram of maize sold between households with and without information (also referred to as an information premium or information rent) is 12%. This premium translates into an average income gain of 0.34 meticais per kilogram of maize sold, or an income gain of $3.13 (about 1% of average gross and net total household income in 2005 meticais) for an average household that sells about 214 kilograms of maize in the main growing season per year. The average marginal population gain in income by an estimated a quarter million households that received information and sold maize is estimated to be $766,748 in the main marketing season per year. These gains are 6 times more than the operational costs in MIS of $130,000 in 2002. The cost-benefit analysis shows that less-commercialized farmers are less likely to afford the use of information from MIS than are more-commercialized farmers.
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