The Data Analytics for Food Markets in Africa project equips private enterprises and public agencies with new data analysis tools to inform decision-making and build healthy, resilient, and effective food markets in Africa.

Food markets in Africa are changing rapidly, due to demographic, economic, environmental and other shifts, including rapidly expanding variety and magnitude of data about market conditions.

These changes call for new forms of data analysis to improve decision making. Recognizing this, we will convene a Consortium of Data Analytics for Food Markets in Africa (DAFMA) consisting of a diverse group of companies, farmer cooperatives, industry associations, and public sector entities to deliver new analytical tools that transform raw data into actionable insights, based on frequent interaction and shared governance of the platform.

Our mission is to equip private enterprises and public agencies with new data analysis tools to inform decision-making and build resilient, healthy, and effective food markets in Africa.

How we work

Our theory of change

Our theory of change is that enterprises make new investments and change business practices only when their decision makers have confidence that each step will help the enterprise survive and prosper. Guiding change towards societal goals requires analytical tools that reveal otherwise hidden opportunities for more inclusive and climate-resilient supply of more affordable nutritious foods, while limiting systemic market failures such as monopoly power and negative consequences for the environment and public health.

Project workstreams

Our project workstreams will deliver actionable insights and software tools for analysis of an enterprise’s own private operational information, as well as proprietary market intelligence and public-domain data, through:

1. Shared governance of a consortium that attracts enterprises ranging in size from local businesses working in a single country to regional and global firms, spanning from agricultural input and service providers to farmers’ associations and cooperatives, as well as all aspects of food production, distribution and retailing, with regular meetings co-financed by participation fees that are proportional to firm size and include pro-bono members to ensure accountability, demand-driven results, and rapid feedback;
2. Methodological innovation for new software tools, analytical methods, and actionable insights in response to end-user needs and feedback obtained through consortium meetings, under the guidance of the platform’s steering committee;
3. Market intelligence for enterprise decision making, using consortium members’ own confidential information combined with proprietary data about other firms provided to consortium members by Euromonitor International;
4. Ground-truthing and validation with local market analysts providing qualitative insights and quantitative guidance on the highest-priority questions identified by consortium members and the steering committee; and
5. Improved enabling environments through technical assistance to governments for monitoring food prices and diet costs, transforming data into actionable evidence for the public investments, policies and programs needed to build inclusive markets.

Project outputs

Our project outputs will inform one or more decisions that affect an enterprise’s ability to grow and prosper by meeting societal demand for more affordable and nutritious, inclusive and resilient food supplies.

Example actions include innovations in:

• product sourcing and contract farming;
• value chain financing for inputs and service provision;
• farmer organizations and other inclusive business practices;
• food quality and safety standards that are trustworthy and cost-effective;
• transportation and storage to lower costs, raise quality, improve stability and post-harvest loss; and
• enabling environments that facilitate adoption of these innovations.

Our geographic focus is the nine Sub-Saharan countries where Euromonitor has field staff, namely Angola, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, plus Rwanda.

Project outcomes & impacts

Our project outcomes begin when consortium members (a) gain access to actionable insights for more inclusive food markets in Africa, developed in dialogue among enterprises with different functional roles and operational scales, which then leads to (b) new analytical methods and software tools that address the needs of decision-makers using newly available data and techniques, and (c) use of insights and guidance to guide market activity based on accurate information validated by local analysts.

All three components are needed for private enterprises to grow in ways that meet societal needs for more resilient, healthy and inclusive food systems, and will be tracked through an embedded monitoring and evaluation framework using operational records from consortium meeting

Funding and origin of our work

The project’s design follows from a scoping study led by the Food Prices for Nutrition project (INV-016158), through which evidence reviews and interviews with food system actors revealed an unmet need for new support structures focusing on the use of data analytics in decision making.