Boosting Intra-African Agricultural Trade to Build Resilience of Smallholder Farmers

20 January 2022. Boosting Intra-African Agricultural Trade to Build Resilience of Smallholder Farmers IFAD Innovation Talk No. 8

To visit the Event Proceedings page, please follow this link:

https://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/-/events/ifad-innovation-talk-8

 

To access the recording of the session directly, please follow this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzPCGB9AKKI&t=6s

This session explored how increased intra-African trade has the potential to stabilize regional food supplies, increase the resilience of markets to local production fluctuations and international price shocks, and give farmers access to larger and more lucrative regional markets.

The event aimed at answering the following questions:

• What is the role of innovation and intra-African trade in accelerating the recovery of African economies from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic?
• What role can innovation in regional trade play in stabilizing domestic food supplies and increasing the resilience of markets to local production and price shocks?
• What are the potential benefits of AfCFTA implementation and increased intra-African trade for local producers?
• What are the next steps for the AfCFTA Secretariat and other actors to advance AfCFTA implementation?
• How can African countries, regions and continental institutions ensure that responses to future crises do not impede cross-border trade?

The event featured interventions from a variety of speakers from multiple organizations: IFAD, AKADEMIYA2063, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) secretariat, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Cairo University and the Pan Africa Farmers Organization (PAFO).

• Ousmane Badiane, Executive Chairperson, AKADEMIYA2063 Antoine Bouet, Senior Research Fellow, Markets, Trade and Institutions Division, IFPRI 
• Sunday Odjo, Deputy Director, Knowledge Systems, AKADEMIYA2063 
• Chahir Zaki, Associate Professor, Cairo University, 2021 AATM Co-editor, AGRODEP Modeling Consortium Member 
• Elizabeth Nsimadala, Director in charge of Women Affairs, PAFO 
• Komla Bissi, Senior Advisor on Agriculture Trade and Agriculture Value Chains Development, AfCFTA 
• Sara Mbago-Bhunu, Director, East and Southern Africa Division (ESA), IFAD 
• Satu Santala, Associate Vice-President, External Relations and Governance Department (ERG), IFAD 
• Gladys H. Morales, Senior Innovation Adviser, Change, Delivery and Innovation Unit (CDI), IFAD.