Online Reporter
Edgar Vhera
Specialist Writer – Agribusiness
AGRICULTURE value chain players are attending an inception meeting to develop an agricultural information repository system (AIRS), which should be universally accepted and designed to enhance data-driven decision-making within the agriculture sector.
The Agricultural Marketing Authority (AMA) is hosting the meeting in Harare.
Objectives of the meeting include presenting the 12 components and core functionalities of the AMA’s proposed AIRS, establishing the framework for a digital platform that simplifies and strengthens regulatory compliance across the entire agricultural sector, as well as assessing integration opportunities with the existing industry Management Information Systems (MIS) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platforms.
The meeting seeks to get stakeholder buy-in and explore funding partnerships for a robust central agricultural repository system that safeguards investments and supports data-centric policy and operational decisions.
Stakeholder are expected to demonstrate their awareness and endorsement of AIRS as the national central repository for agricultural data and information management and identification of integration points and opportunities across different organisations and platforms within the agricultural ecosystem at the end of the meeting.
A consensus on a user-friendly platform that enables stakeholders to self-register and manage databases of members, growers, or partner networks, as well as commitment toward funding and strategic partnerships to develop a comprehensive, sustainable, and interoperable agricultural data infrastructure that drives evidence-based decision-making, is also expected.
AIRS is expected to be operational by the first quarter of 2026.
Bongani Ndlovu