1 / 20

Towards Equitable Agricultural Development in the EAC:

Towards Equitable Agricultural Development in the EAC: . An Analysis of the EPA between the EU and the EAC. Fostering Equitable Agricultural Development in Africa (FEAD) Project . Structure of the Presentation. Agriculture Related Provisions in the Framework EPA

ira
Download Presentation

Towards Equitable Agricultural Development in the EAC:

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Towards Equitable Agricultural Development in the EAC: An Analysis of the EPA between the EU and the EAC Fostering Equitable Agricultural Development in Africa (FEAD) Project

  2. Structure of the Presentation • Agriculture Related Provisions in the Framework EPA • Potential for Equitable Agriculture Development in the Framework EPA • Investment for increased productivity • Reform of international and regional disciplines in agriculture • Redressing agriculture related trade constraints • Capacity building of small and medium sized farmers • Multi-stakeholder consultation and coordination • Concluding Remarks and Way Forward

  3. Current Content of the FEPA • Chapter I - General Provisions • Chapter II - Trade Regime for Goods • Chapter III - Fisheries • Chapter IV - Economic and Development Cooperation • Chapter V - Areas of Future Negotiations • Including Special Chapter on Agriculture • Chapter VI - Dispute Avoidance and Settlement, Institutional, General and Final Provisions • Protocol I - Concerning the Definition of the Concept of Originating Products and Methods of Administrative Cooperation • Protocol II - On Mutual Administrative Assistance in Customs Matters

  4. Agriculture Related Provisions in the FEPA: Trade in Goods • The FEPA provides for duty free and quota free (DFQF) market access for all EAC exports to EU with special safeguard provisions for sugar until 2015 • The EAC will liberalise 82 percent of EU imports over a period of 25 years

  5. Agriculture Related Provisions in the FEPA: Rules of Origin

  6. Agriculture Related Provisions in the FEPA: Export Taxes

  7. Agriculture Related Provisions in the FEPA: Non-Tariff Measures • Ensuring transparency in accessing the EU market • Increased access for EAC agricultural products in the EU market • BUT • It is also necessary to train and assist SMFs so as to enable them to comply with standards and regulations • The imposition of non-tariff measures is prohibited • Quotas • Export or import licenses • Exceptions • Measures are applied to prevent or relieve critical shortages of food • Restrictions are necessary to the application of standards or regulations in international trade

  8. Agriculture Related Provisions in the FEPA: Safeguards • The EPA allows for multilateral and bilateral safeguards, and includes special provisions for infant industries ... ....BUT • burdensome procedures • time limit after which clear elements are required leading to the elimination of the measure • no special safeguards for agriculture • only temporary distortions are addressed whereas distortions in agricultural trade are rather of structural nature

  9. Agriculture Related Provisions in the FEPA: Development Cooperation • EAC has drafted a Text on Agriculture (2009) and a Text on Economic and Development Cooperation (2011) • Areas of development cooperation of both texts need to be harmonised • Chapter on development cooperation should allow for the retention of mechanisms favourable to development and exclude mechanisms hindering development • Revenue loss due to binding liberalisation should be caught by binding development support • Until now only objectives • EU confirms to continue its financial contribution to: • 10th European Development Fund • Aid for Trade • No new specific commitments under FEPA • Development cooperation will be further considered in the next phase of negotiations

  10. Potential for Equitable Agriculture Development in the Framework EPA

  11. Potential for EAD in the FEPA: Increased investment leading to improved productivity DFQF Market Access • Can create incentives for increased investment in the agricultural sector leading to: • Improved productivity • Diversification • Import of capital goods • Spill-over of technology • Main target of investment should be small and medium sized farmers

  12. Potential for EAD in the FEPA: Increased investment leading to improved productivity Rules of Origin • simplified rules of origin provide more certainty • Possibility of cumulation provides for value addition and diversification and can increase export activity in agricultural products

  13. Potential for EAD in the FEPA: Increased investment leading to improved productivity – The Way Forward • Chapter on Agriculture has to include provisions on • promotion of joint ventures and mixed investments in general • facilitation of access to credit facilities for small and medium sized farmers • Chapter on Development Cooperation has to include • Binding commitments to achieve a better infrastructure and better technological inputs • Binding commitments to compensate revenue loss as a result of liberalisation through development support

  14. Potential for EAD in the FEPA: Reforming international and regional disciplines in agriculture • Negotiating the FEPA as a bloc: strengthening regional integration • creation of larger markets • generating small and medium sized farmers’ activity • Improved food security by allowing the movement of goods from surplus to deficit areas within and outside the EAC • Safeguardsaddress the essential issues but fail to be effective due to time limitations and cumbersome procedures • The use of subsidiesshould be confined

  15. Potential for EAD in the FEPA: Redress of trade facilitation constraints • Need for a specific development fund under FEPA aimed at: • Improving customs administration, • building better infrastructure networks, • capacity building of small farmers, • harmonisation of the regulatory frameworks within the EAC • etc. • Need for binding commitments aiming at improving the agricultural private sector that go beyond traditional technical assistance and include real transfer of know-how and technology

  16. Potential for EAD in the FEPA: Capacity building of SMFs • the EPA fails to explicitly address: • Better access to production technologies, product quality enhancements and direct linkages to the market for SMFs • Better information of SMFs on how to use commercial, technical, scientific and financial opportunities under the EPA

  17. Potential for EAD in the FEPA: Multi-stakeholder consultation and coordination As promoted in the Cotonou Agreement, somemulti-stakeholder consultations in EPA negotiations were conducted … … BUT • no mechanism to ensure neither the taking into account of the stakeholders’ views nor the information of stakeholders about final outcomes • parliamentarians, consumer associations, trade unions, small business, informal sector, and farmers are not always members of these fora • multiplicity and sometimes ad-hoc nature of consultative mechanisms hamper regular and effective participation

  18. Potential for EAD in the FEPA: Multi-stakeholder consultation and coordination • The East African Business Council (EABC) • smallholder farmers are not well represented thus they lack the ability to own policy implementation let alone policy-making • The informal sector • should also be recognized as a stakeholder and its participation in negotiations should be seized • Including the informal sector as a stakeholder in the EPA negotiations would eventually • transform informal activity to formal activity, • increase government revenues • enhancethe agricultural sector by making technology and finance available for a greater number of beneficiaries.

  19. Concluding Remarks: The way forward for national governments • National governments need to… • provide stakeholders with information on how they can effectively harness opportunities provided for under the EPA • establish channels through which all stakeholders can participate in consultations on the ongoing negotiations and be informed about final outcomes • establish mechanisms which ensure that their views, opinions and proposals are taken into account • harmonise regional and national strategies • allocate resources to sectors that are likely to benefit most from the EPA

  20. Thank you ! 37-39, Rue de Vermont1202 Geneva, SwitzerlandPh: +41.22.734.6080Fax:+41.22.734.3914Email: geneva@cuts.orgWeb: http://www.cuts-grc.org/

More Related