Resource Center

Benoit Gnonlonfin

Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS), Global Program Lead, CABI

Intra-African trade in agricultural commodities can transform Africa into a food-secure region, especially as climate change increasingly affects markets. However, without strict food safety guidelines, cross-border trade risks distributing unsafe food.

In 2005, Nigeria benefited from bumper harvests due to favorable weather and effective policies that improved access to farm inputs. In contrast, neighboring Niger faced extreme food shortages due to severe drought and locust invasions, leading to widespread hunger and malnutrition despite the food surplus in Nigeria.

In 2017, regions of Ethiopia had a successful season due to sufficient rainfall that year. However, in South Sudan, a neighbouring country, there was famine exacerbated by severe drought and conflict. Food from Ethiopia could not be supplied due to a lack of infrastructure and political instability.

Improving trade can unlock significant benefits, as highlighted in the 2023 Africa Agriculture Trade Monitor report: “In addition to promoting economic growth through broader market access, trade also has clear potential to improve food security by increasing the availability of and access to food through a variety of channels.”

The report further explains that one of the most important avenues to greater food security is through increased incomes from trade, which boosts consumers’ purchasing power, allowing them to consume more and better-quality and safe food.

In short, increased trade will mean more income for farming communities, creation of jobs, enabling them to purchase whatever they need. It also means there will be a greater variety of food in the market from different quarters, giving consumers a wider range to choose from, thereby improving their nutritional standards.

Boosting trade

Agenda 2063, the African Union’s (AU) blueprint for economic development, prioritizes agricultural growth. This is outlined in the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) and further elaborated in the Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods.

With the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in March 2018, such commitments seek to harness market and trade opportunities locally, regionally, and internationally.

For instance, Agenda 2063 envisions a food secure continent with sustainable farming techniques that will be instrumental in reducing poverty, hunger and malnutrition, while CAADP provides a clear framework for acceleration of agricultural growth, thereby encouraging countries to dedicate at least 10% of their budgets to agriculture.

The AfCFTA, which is a flagship project of Agenda 2063, creates a free trade area for all African countries with a population of over 1.3 billion. By eliminating tariffs and reducing non-tariff barriers, it encourages intra-African trade to ensure that farmers have a wider market for their enhanced harvests.

Mitigating risk

However, expanding intra-African trade in agricultural commodities must be managed carefully to prevent the increased risk of unsafe food, which could reverse gains in food security and reintroduce previously controlled health risks.

Studies show that Africa is the greatest contributor to the burden of unsafe foods in the world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Africa accounts for nearly one-third of global deaths from food-borne diseases, with approximately 137,000 fatalities out of 420,000 annually. At the same time, unsafe food leads to productivity losses of about US$95 billion a year in low and middle-income countries.

It is imperative we take steps to improve food safety at the national, regional, and international levels to ensure proper application and harmonization of food standards. According to Amb. Josepha Sacko, the Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, improved implementation and harmonization of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) systems is critical to ensuring that any agricultural trade protects human, animal and plant health.

The SPS agreement under the World Trade Organization (WTO) focuses on how governments can apply sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures and regulations to ensure human health, plant health, animal health, and food and feed safety. However, adhering to the SPS measures has been difficult for some importing countries, leading to limited market access for low- and middle-income economies.

The African Union (AU) introduced the SPS Policy Framework in 2014. This framework was developed to help AU member states align their SPS measures with international standards, thereby enhancing intra-African trade, access to global markets, and food safety. So far, the AU SPS Policy Framework lays out a roadmap to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of SPS systems on the continent to protect human health and facilitate intra-African trade.

CABI’s SPS strategy for 2024-2034 focuses on strengthening sustainable SPS capacity through three core outcomes addressing diverse needs across member countries.

Outcome 1: Increased synergies and collaboration of stakeholders to drive catalytic SPS improvement. This is a continuation and building on ongoing initiatives. Working at a global, regional, and national level, CABI will facilitate, convene, and connect relevant stakeholders who have the potential to play a key role in SPS capacity development in CABI’s member countries and beyond.

Outcome 2: Improved regional and national SPS institutional capacity for effective participation, greater access to, and use of best practices and knowledge products.

This is a continuation and building on ongoing initiatives. CABI will facilitate and deliver core, member-driven activities to build, strengthen, pilot and learn from collaborative and innovative approaches in developing SPS capacity.

Outcome 3: SPS research in tertiary education strengthened. This is a new area of work. Working with partners, CABI will create an interdisciplinary, experiential SPS research model and tertiary education that will address and focus on the rapidly emerging need for innovations at the nexus of food security, food safety, agricultural productivity and economics from local to global scales.

When executed with strict adherence to food safety standards, intra-African trade could become the cornerstone for transforming food systems across the continent. Improved agricultural productivity, expanded market access, and enhanced regional cooperation through frameworks like AfCFTA and CAADP will reduce post-harvest losses, give consumers access to a greater variety of safe foods, and significantly decrease poverty, hunger, and malnutrition.