Boosting intra-African trade in agricultural commodities and services, when properly handled to reap the benefits of comparative advantage in agricultural production, tends to be a good idea. However, various rules and regulations under the WTO regime do not mean much on the ground. This is because of lack of transparent and accountable mechanisms and enforcement of rules at different levels. Various provisions may remain on paper rather than enhance trade and food security. Given the limited total market power of the region for trade volume there should be little surprise that the mechanisms cannot contribute to effective agricultural transformation.
What remains more relevant in this context is the role of value chain approach to production, processing and export, within the region and outside - based on sustainable agriculture methods and focus on small farm innovations. Provision of self-enforcing incentive mechanisms (such as recognizing and supporting high productivity) could be useful. Inter-agency cooperative efforts (domestic and international) will be rewarding to the populations, in general. Excessive expliotation of natural resources to maximize trade can be detrimental to sustainable production, trade and development. The focus needs to be more on the fulfillment of Sustainable Development Goals using pragmatic mechanisms in this context.
see also: P K Rao International Environmental Law and Economics (Blackwell)
P K Rao The World Trade Organization and the Environment (Macmillan)
Dr. Krishna Rao Pinninti
This Draft is excellent in its comprehension and laying down a common framework for possible adoption with custom-designed localization (national, regional, territorial or other). Its major contribution is that it offers a set of plausible factors for conscious decision-making at different levels and sectors, recognizing various interlinkages. However, it falls short on relevant specifics: more illustrative best practice case studies or examples could motivate some of the principal stakeholders to aim at the attainment of various objectives in relation to SDGs (with due consideration of socio-economic as well as environmental impratives of the specific agroeconomic settings). Over the years there have been several good examples of practices; some is these included the role and contribution of FAO and other organizations in a variety of settings. The main limitations in many of these cases, however, is lack of scalability and or sustainable self-supporting mechanisms.
Greater emphasis on climate change-compatible adaptive sustainable agriculture will be useful.
On another issue, as long as large-scale farming that is directly or indirectly controlled by unaccountable multinationals promote consumption of unsustainable animal meats, the environmental fall out will continue to dominate many other offsetting activities such as organic agriculture. Similarly, if rise in personal incomes lead to excessive unsustainable and unhealthy food consumption, many of the normative concepts and approaches of SFS may deliver merely limited good results.
Thank you for your efforts.
Krishna Rao Pinninti, Ph. D
Climate and Development Strategies, LLC
USA.