Increased intra-African trade in agricultural commodities and services can help reduce Africa’s annual food import bill, currently over US$80 billion, by local sourcing of import substitutes while at the same time expanding agricultural exports from a base of about US$60 billion per year.
Representatives drawn from governments, the private sector, civil society, academia, regional bodies and agricultural value chain associations from East Africa met for a three-day training workshop, from 29- 31 2022 August, on Food Safety and Coordination on Border Regulations towards improving the safe trade of agro-food commodities in the region. Organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Subregional Office for Eastern Africa and the Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority (NCTTCA); the training workshop aimed to strengthen the capacity of East African countries to comply with food safety, animal and plant health standards, and requirements to facilitate safe trade. The workshop explored the linkages between Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) and Technical barriers to trade agreements vis-a-vis trade facilitation.
Speaking on behalf of FAO’s Subregional Coordinator for Eastern Africa, Priya Gujadhur, Deputy Representative for FAO in Uganda, stressed the need for stakeholders in the agro-food value chain to meet appropriate food safety and quality requirements to trade regionally and internationally. Governments apply such standards to ensure food safety, protect animal, plant and environmental health, and meet the desired quality requirements of trade commodities.
Gujadhur further stated that food safety is at the heart of FAO’s work, supporting the achievement of Better Production, Better Nutrition, a Better Environment, and a Better Life, leaving no one behind. “Food safety is a shared responsibility. There is no better time than this for the Eastern African region to harness efforts to improve food safety, promote cross-border food trade, and benefit from opportunities arising from the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). Zero hunger will not be achieved without food safety, as if it is not safe, it is not food”.
On his part, the Executive Secretary of the NCTTCA, Omae Nyarandi, noted that Eastern Africa owns several Trade and Transport Corridors such as the Central and the Northern Corridors. The Corridors provide access to markets, connect countries and provide access to seaports for the landlocked countries and play a critical role in facilitating both intra-African and international trade. “Improving food safety and our border regulations will go a long way in attracting external markets to our region and therefore ultimately determining the volumes of commodities traded between the trading partners at any given time,” Nyarandi added.
It is essential to enhance the capacity of the various competent authorities and cross-border trade stakeholders to address barriers that affect cross-border trade. This helps to enhance Eastern Africa’s competitiveness in transboundary trade, promote intra-Africa trade, and take advantage of the opportunities created by the (AfCFTA). The successful implementation of AfCFTA requires addressing barriers around food safety and ensuring the agro-food commodities crossing the borders are up to the standards.
The workshop also deliberated on the critical role micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) play in food supply chains, rural transformation, and overall economic growth. The cost of complying with some of these standards can be prohibitive, limiting their ability to benefit from trade opportunities, as the cost of non-compliance with food safety standards is ultimately higher than the cost of compliance. Unsafe food further limits access to markets with far-reaching impact on farmers and producers. Improved communication, awareness-raising, advocacy, coordination, and partnerships among stakeholders are crucial to enhancing food safety and quality systems and border regulations coordination to keep safe trade flowing.
In this regard, the training workshop served as a platform for an in-depth discussion and experience sharing on strengthening food safety & coordination on border regulations to facilitate trade in the East African Region. Key recommendations were put forth to address challenges faced by producers, suppliers, processors and logistics actors. Among the recommendations, the participants suggested that for producers, awareness campaigns and training targeting farmers on proper inputs, Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs), food safety and quality management systems, regulations and procedures are beneficial. Organizing smallholder farmers into cooperatives or associations to become bankable, supporting research on biological control products and improving infrastructure to transport produce from farms to markets are critical.
On the side of suppliers strengthening food regulatory systems, harmonizing product registration procedures, improving enforcement, monitoring, and surveillance capabilities, and promoting technologies on natural biological plant and animal health protection products were suggested.
In this regard, it is essential to support processors by improving awareness of food safety requirements and standards. It is critical to inform and engage MSMEs in food safety measures development and capacitate them to comply. Improving quality infrastructure, promoting self-regulation of food safety, investing in packaging materials, and improving processing equipment and facilities are critical.
On the logistics side, fortifying food safety standard compliance policy and regulatory frameworks, supporting the private sector to comply with food safety standards, improving security and transport infrastructure in rural areas, avail aggregation centres, and improving clearance processes on border areas are paramount actions.
Ensuring Food Safety in the agro-food trade
With the growing global food supply chain and transboundary movement of foods, the potential for the spread of food safety hazards is high. The importance of food safety cannot be understated as unsafe food leads to food-borne illnesses, malnutrition, food losses and waste, and reduced domestic and international market access. In Africa, over 90 million people fall ill, while nearly 137,000 die each year, due to food-borne diseases. FAO hosts the Secretariats of two of the three standard-setting bodies recognized by the World Trade Organization (WTO) SPS and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreements, namely the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) and the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CODEX). The third body is World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH). These standards-setting bodies have the mandate to develop international food safety and plant and animal health standards to protect consumer health and ensure fair practices in the food trade.
Related links: Food safety and quality
[…] Source link […]
[…] Source link […]
[…] Source link […]
Comments are closed.