Market Access for African Agricultural Exports: Assessment of the AoA and SPS Agreements

42 Pages Posted: 2 Jul 2010

See all articles by Gashahun Lemessa

Gashahun Lemessa

Jimma University - College of Social Sciences and Law

Tilahun Esmael

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: June 30, 2010

Abstract

Agriculture plays a critical role in the majority of African Countries’ economy. The sector is not only a major employer but also a significant source of export earnings and hence it has a high multiplier effect. This very fact makes agricultural market access issues of major concern to African countries.

This paper aimed at assessing the agricultural market access challenges of African countries through reviewing pertinent literature, WTO Agreements on agriculture (AOA) and the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures and recent developments at the Doha round of trade negotiations.

While through the adoption of the AoA, WTO members have brought agricultural trade to a new phase of remarkable reform, African agricultural exports still face significant challenges (both tariff and non-tariff). Particularly, African small holder farmers’ exports hardly penetrate into major export markets due to ever increasing complex nature of SPS measures administered by those markets although a number of preferential market access regimes are available to them. It also appears that the Doha round, on the basis of the different modalities in motion, offers little to most of African countries, leaving “aid for trade” as an important supplementary policy for the round to be pro-development, as it purports to be.

Presented at the SIEL 2010 Conference in Barcelona.

Keywords: Africa, Agreement on Agriculture, Agricultural Trade, Market Access, Sanitary and Phyto Sanitary Measures, World Trade Organization

JEL Classification: F02, F10, F13, F14, Q17

Suggested Citation

Lemessa, Gashahun and Esmael, Tilahun, Market Access for African Agricultural Exports: Assessment of the AoA and SPS Agreements (June 30, 2010). Society of International Economic Law (SIEL), Second Biennial Global Conference, University of Barcelona, July 8-10, 2010, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1633020 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1633020

Gashahun Lemessa (Contact Author)

Jimma University - College of Social Sciences and Law ( email )

Ethiopia
Adiss Abeba, 542
Ethiopia

Tilahun Esmael

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

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