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ARC/20/INF/10 - Intra-Africa Trade in Food and Agriculture: Issues, Challenges and Prospects in the Context of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)

Year of publication 2018

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Meeting

Edition 1

Statutory body / Meeting title FAO Regional Conference for Africa (ARC)

Meeting symbol ARC/20/INF/10

Meeting Session Number 31

Meeting date 23-27 March 2020

Meeting location Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Language English

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    Project
    Support for Boosting Intra-African Trade in Agricultural Commodities and Services to Advance the Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) - TCP/RAF/3708 2022
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    African Heads of State and Government, through the 2014 Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods (Malabo Declaration), have made a clear commitment on Boosting Intra African Trade ( in agricultural commodities and services This commitment includes harnessing market and trade opportunities locally, regionally and internationally by creating and enhancing policies, institutional conditions and support systems and tripling intra African trade in agricultural commodities and services by 2025 The 2017 Inaugural Biennial Review Report of the African Union Commission on the Implementation of the Malabo Declaration found that only three of the 29 Members reporting on the commitment to BIAT in agricultural commodities and services were on track to meet the commitment by 2025 Meeting this commitment on time requires building capacity to address policy, technical and investment constraints and minimize domestic food price volatility Despite the impressive gross domestic product ( growth rates experienced on the continent in recent years, Africa has remained a marginal player in both domestic and world trade The share of intra African merchandise exports in 2017 was around 19 6 percent of total exports (by value) The relatively low performance of intra African trade in agricultural commodities is of particular concern In the face of abundant unexploited suitable resources for agriculture, the continent depends on extra African sources for more than 80 percent of imports of food and agricultural products As a result, Africa faces a food and agricultural import bill growing at a yearly average of 3 6 percent, reaching USD 72 7 billion in 2017 To take advantage of fast growing intra African market opportunities, African agriculture must undergo a structural transformation that entails shifting from highly diversified and subsistence oriented production systems towards more market oriented ones This requires both a bold shift in policy and substantial investment to overcome the severe under capitalization, as well as low productivity and competitiveness of the sector In order to tackle the constraints on national and regional food marketing and trade, there is a need to face up to two broad categories of challenges The first set of challenges concerns prioritizing and filling the deficit in hard and soft market and trade infrastructure The second set of challenges requires tackling the policy and institutional deficiencies to strengthen intra regional and inter regional market integration and trade facilitation.
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