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Boosting agrifood trade competitiveness

How an Agrifood Competitiveness and Trade (ACT) analysis can support countries in unlocking the potential of agrifood imports and exports

Year of publication 2025

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 4 p.

Author FAO

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet

Synopsis (short abstract) The brochure presents the Agrifood Competitiveness and Trade (ACT) analysis as a tool for countries to pinpoint agrifood products with high potential for export growth or import substitution. It highlights why diversifying agrifood trade has become increasingly important in a fragmented global context and outlines a five-stage methodology that analyses national trade patterns, pinpoints value chains with revealed comparative advantages or import opportunities, and evaluates them through quantitative and qualitative indicators. It also illustrates how ACT findings can inform targeted policy design, improve trade facilitation, and guide investment and sectoral reforms. Real-world examples of an ACT analysis from Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Uganda show how governments have used ACT insights to develop export strategies, prioritize reforms, and strengthen key agrifood value chains. The ACT approach has been developed and implemented by FAO’s Monitoring and Analysing Food and Agricultural Policies (MAFAP) programme.

Language English

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