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Title : the tripartite FTA – opportunity for agricultural trade Taku Fundira. African Agriculture Overview. Agriculture’s economic contribution: an engine for growth in Africa A growing awareness to overhaul the agricultural sector in response to changes in the global environment ;
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Title: the tripartite FTA – opportunity for agricultural trade Taku Fundira
African Agriculture Overview Agriculture’s economic contribution: an engine for growth in Africa A growing awareness to overhaul the agricultural sector in response to changes in the global environment; Common African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) managed by the NEPAD Planning & Coordinating Agency (NPCA) in terms of which, member states commit to increasing contributions to agricultural development initiatives. African countries have thus an opportunity to work as a collective and attain the target levels for economic growth and be able to meet the MDGs
Trade at a glance The underlying factor is that higher economic growths in Africa cannot be realised without significant increases in agricultural productive capacity across the value chain.
Agribusiness development: Issues and Challenges • Agribusiness: - the collective business activities that are performed from farm to fork... • According to FAO.... “Agribusiness is characterized by raw materials that are mostly perishable, variable in quality and not regularly available.” • A common characteristic in developing regions is the transition to market driven systems associated with greater reliance on input markets and growth of post-production enterprises. • Over the next 2 decades, for job creation and income generation to materialise, there is need for agribusiness in Africa to undergo significant structural transformation and technological upgrading.
Current developments: The COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite FTA Agricultural Policies in the tripartite configuration • COMESA: guided by the COMESA Agricultural policy • EAC: guided by the EAC Agriculture and Rural Development Policy (EAC-ARDP) • SADC: guided by the Dar-es-Salam Declaration on Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security. -The SADC is currently drafting a Regional Agricultural Policy (RAP) which defines common agreed objectives to guide, promote and support actions at regional and national levels in the agricultural sector.
Current developments: The COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite FTA Market Access of agricultural products in the tripartite configuration • Elimination of tariff and non tariff barriers to trade; • Issue of sensitive products: how is this a limiting factor to enhancing market access? • tralac currently looking at the issue of sensitive products and how this affects agricultural trade liberalisation.
Current developments: The COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite FTA Preliminary analysis: South African exports to the tripartite countries • With the exception of SACU members and Libya, tariffs still in place; • Mauritius (95%); Seychelles (85%); Zambia (83%) and Mozambique (81%) relatively open. The rest still maintain protection in over 60% of the product lines, with Burundi (100%); Rwanda (96%); Zimbabwe (95%) and Sudan (88%). • “Food, Beverages and Tobacco” and “Vegetable products” still face the highest level of protection, while “Chemical products” and “Raw Hides” face the least level of protection.