Prevalence of trade barriers in the region is a contributor to food shortage especially hampering movement of grains. East Africa Grain Council (EAGC) says trade barriers have pushed business of grains from formal, well-regulated channels to informal, unregulated and inefficient mediums.

Grain experts say informal trade translates to higher food safety risks, lower quality, high post-harvest losses, higher transaction costs and ultimately higher consumer prices.

“Today, 70 per cent of maize, 63 per cent of dry beans, 57 per cent of rice and 89 per cent of millet are traded informally across national borders. This scenario has exposed more than 10 million East Africans to hunger,” Eagc Board Chairman Bernard Otim told People Daily during the council’s Annual Members’ meeting in Nairobi.

Despite importance of regional food trade in availing markets for producers and affordable food for consumers, export bans, import bans or both, are active in a number of countries in Eastern and Southern Africa region.

Otim said there are close to 20 countries affected by such a scenario in the region. “It is an irony that our governments have been quick to sign regional and continental commitments to support agriculture but have been slow to back such commitments with concrete action and resources,” he said.

A few of these countries have committed 10 per cent of their national budgets to the agricultural sector as per the AU Malabo Declaration. Regrettably, development of the grain sector in the region is inhibited by a restrictive policy environment, characterised by ad hoc and often-conflicting policy interventions taken without consultations with non-state stakeholders and continued prevalence of barriers to cross-border and domestic trade.

Source: Media Max

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