Liberia Trader Survey Report Round 3

Between the weeks of November 3 and December 8, 2014 FEWS NET worked with Mobile Accord (GeoPoll) to carry out three rounds of SMS-based trader surveys in Liberia and Sierra Leone to gather information on the status of market activities and operating costs in areas made inaccessible by the Ebola epidemic. Liberia and Sierra Leone are FEWS NET remote monitoring countries. In remote monitoring countries, analysts typically work from a nearby regional office, relying on a network of partners for information. As less data may be available, remote monitoring reports may have less detail than FEWS NET presence countries The SMS-based survey results serve to corroborate key informant and partner reports on market activities and serve as inputs to FEWS NET’s integrated food security analysis on the impacts of the Ebola outbreak. The first round of data collection identified a sample of traders to monitor and some fundamental characteristics (Table 1). During the second and third rounds, the survey inquired about current market activities. 

• The report provides a summery of findings from  a FEWS NET trader survey using a SMS-based platform throgh GeoPoll during the week of December 8, 2014 (third round of data collection). The sample includes over 500 small to large-scale traders across the 15 countries of Liberia (figure 1).

• Over 36 percent of respondents were cassava traders, followed by palm oil (26 percent), imported rice (24 percent), and local rice (13 percent). This distribution reflects the structure of agricultural markets in Liberia, with higher concentration and barriers to entry to imported rice trading (FEWS NET, USAID-BEST).  

• During the week of December 8^th, over 30 percent of survey respondents reported that weekly markets operated at reduced levels. However, only seven traders reported weekly market closures. 

• Although it is currently the post-harvest period, 25 percent of traders indicated that market supplies of main commodities declined since the previous data collection round in November. Between 25 and 41 percent of traders in areas worst affected by the Ebola outbreak reported that food availability on the markets they serve was insufficient to meet local needs (Table 5). 

• High transport costs was the most frequently cited reason for reduced market supplies (Figure 6). Only 14 percent of traders reported that cash crop sale opportunities had declined since mid-November.