Topics publications: Agriculture and commodities
Trade Reports
An assessment of agricultural sensitive products within the Cape to Cairo Tripartite Region
The issue of sensitive products for exemption from tariff liberalisation in the different countries/regional groupings may become an area of contention in the tripartite FTA negotiations, simply because much of the basis for this exemption designation is likely to be arbitrary, and the sensitive products are more likely to reflect protectionist interests or rent-seeking behaviour, both of which will perpetuate inefficiencies.
There have been discussions around the issue of sensitive products within the individual RECs and within the tripartite FTA itself, thus emphasising the significance of this issue and therefore we urge countries to base their selection on genuine public policy objectives.
This paper provides an overview on what motivates countries to seek flexibilities for certain products from full liberalisation. We start with a review of how the issue of sensitive products is being handled at the multilateral and regional level before focusing on agricultural trade liberalisation within the tripartite FTA and to what extent agricultural products form part of the sensitive products list.
Sensitive products can undermine the process of deeper integration, and furthermore the lack of resources and analytical capacity to undertake detailed analysis and the lack of properly defined guidelines and benchmarks also hinders the process. We presume that this may partly explain the delays by some countries in COMESA and SADC to identify and notify to the respective Secretariats, their lists of sensitive products.
The paper concludes by highlighting the need for policy makers to find ways to develop a systematic approach to determining sensitive products and to ensure that all stakeholders are aware of the purpose of a sensitive products list. The current list of sensitive products reflects poorly on the desire to establish a CU with a CET, to which all the RECs have or aspire to attain.
Readers are encouraged to quote and reproduce this material for educational, non-profit purposes, provided the source is acknowledged. All views and opinions expressed remain solely those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the views of tralac.
Trade Reports
Agricultural production in the tripartite region
tralac has been collaborating with the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) in South Africa during the past year on a project which focuses on the proposed Tripartite Free Trade Area (FTA). The Tripartite FTA is envisaged to consist of the 26 member states of the East African Community (EAC), the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), establishing a free trade area stretching from Cape to Cairo. The research papers focus on different aspects of the trade in goods agenda; including a review of intra-African trade and agri-business development in this region. These papers are included in a book, entitled Cape to Cairo – an Assessment of the Tripartite Free Trade Area.
A special emphasis in this project is given to agriculture, and the objective for this chapter is to examine agricultural production trends in the region as a basis for the subsequent analysis. This analysis makes extensive use of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) data. This paper starts by providing an analysis of agricultural production in Africa as a whole as well as in the tripartite region countries in order to place the tripartite countries in perspective before moving on to examine the individual countries and their associated commodities in more detail. The paper concludes with an analysis of undernourishment and food aid in the region.
Readers are encouraged to quote and reproduce this material for educational, non-profit purposes, provided the source is acknowledged. All views and opinions expressed remain solely those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the views of tralac.