12 June 2019 – CABI is today hosting a discussion led by a panel composed of representatives from Economic Community of Central African states (ECCAS), Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Alliance for Commodity Trade in East and Southern Africa (ACTESA), German Society for International Corporation (GIZ) and the Kenya Agribusiness and Agroindustry Alliance (KAAA), at the 15th CAADP Partnership Platform Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya.
CABI’s Dr George Oduor, Global Director Value Chains and Trade is leading the side event – entitled ‘Operationalizing AfCFTA – Partnerships and elimination of barriers to trade in Africa’ with a view to addressing some of the key challenges in agricultural value chains.
Representatives from participating organizations, which also include various Ministries of Agriculture, FAO, AGRA, Common Market for East and Southern Africa, Economic Commission of West African States, Trademark East Africa and the East African Community (EAC), are taking part in the session which presents African countries and their development and technical partners with the opportunity to reflect together, share best practices and identify strategies and policies to foster integration, enhanced market access and intra-regional trade in agricultural commodities and services.
“The agricultural market is growing and is currently estimated at more than US $3 trillion – about 70 percent of this comes from smallholder farmers, who are particularly vulnerable to production challenges including climate change”, said Dr Oduor.
“Some of the key questions and talking points which will form the basis of the discussion will look at ways in which we can promote and attain sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development, gender equality and structural transformation.”
Dr Oduor added that international trade and travel have expanded significantly in recent decades – increasing the rate of movement of agricultural products that may pose a risk to human, animal and environmental health. He says that to manage the risk, all countries that are members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are bound by the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (the SPS agreement) which aims to minimize risks to food safety, animal health and plant health while facilitating trade.
Photo: Sacko Seydou from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) poses a question to the panelists
CABI’s brochure ‘Breaking Down Barriers –Support for supply chains: improving trade efficiency and profitability’, highlights initiatives and achievements made by the organization over the years working with key partners.
Additional information
Read more about CABI’s work in partnership to help improve livelihoods through better trade.
Relevant book
Pest Management and Phytosanitary Trade Barriers, By N Heather, (retired) University of Queensland, Australia, G Hallman, USDA, CABI (2008).
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