exports from Africa increased fourfold, but imports rose 2.5 times faster, widening the agricultural trade deficit.6 African countries are reported to have also increased their competitiveness and gained shares in regional and intra-African markets for agricultural products.7 Because of the sharp declines in prior decades, African countries still have a long way to go either to reach their 1960 shares of global trade or to raise intra-regional trade to levels that have been reached by other developing regions.
PROMOTING BETTER NUTRITION, INCREASING INTRA-AFRICAN AND GLOBAL TRADE, AND TRANSFORMING AFRICA’S ECONOMIES
Te focus of the African Union’s 2014 Assembly of Heads of State and Government was on transform- ing Africa’s agriculture and agriculture’s role in stimulating broad-based growth and poverty reduc- tion. At the close of the assembly, African lead- ers issued the Malabo Declaration, recommiting their respective countries to CAADP’s agricultural expenditure and growth targets; principles and val- ues, including the pursuit of agriculture-led growth, regional cooperation, evidence-based planning, dialogue, review, and accountability; and inclusive partnerships with multiple stakeholders, including farmers, the private sector, and civil society. Leaders commited to the ambitious goals of ending hun- ger and halving poverty in Africa by 2025 through increased agricultural productivity, employment opportunities for both women and youth in agri- cultural value chains, and effective social protec- tion programs. Tey also pledged to reduce child malnutrition by lowering the rate of stunting and underweight in children under five years to 10 and 5 percent, respectively, by 2025.8 Te pledge will help to further drive efforts by
countries to scale up nutrition interventions. In 2014, five African countries joined the Scaling Up Nutri- tion (SUN) movement, bringing the total number of African countries in SUN to 36 (out of a total of 54 SUN members). Te five countries are Guinea Bis- sau, Lesotho, Liberia, Somalia, and Togo. By joining the movement, countries have commited to put in place nutrition-sensitive policies and to work with all
key stakeholders and mobilize resources needed to scale up specific nutrition interventions. As part of the Malabo Declaration, African lead-
ers commited to tripling intra-African trade in agri- cultural products and services by 2025. Tis is to be accomplished through investments in trade and market infrastructure and through policy and insti- tutional changes, including establishing a Continen- tal Free Trade Area.9 Tese goals and actions will facilitate the trade-related aspirations of the Afri- can Union’s Agenda 2063, which envisions the free movement of people, capital, goods, and services, as well as significant increases in trade and investments among African countries.10 Te Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge
Support System (ReSAKSS) 2013 Annual Trends and Outlook Report, launched in October at the ReSAKSS Annual Conference, underlines the poten- tial of regional trade to contribute to food security by buffering individual countries’ food supplies from shocks. Te report states that intra-African trade is increasing, but from a low base: only 34 per- cent of agricultural exports from African countries stays within the continent. In analyzing three major regional economic communities, the report observes significant potential for regional trade expansion, which could play a greater role in reducing volatil- ity in national food supplies. Its simulation results also suggest that regional trade could be increased significantly through moderate reduction in over- all trading costs and removal of nontariff barriers to cross-border trade.11
ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTS AND TRADE RELATIONS BETWEEN AFRICA AND THE EUROPEAN UNION
In 2014, significant progress was made in advancing Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the European Union (EU) and several African regions. Replacing the former unilateral preference arrangements, EPAs are reciprocal but asymmetric free trade agreements: African countries receive full access to European markets and open the majority of their markets to the EU over time while maintaining the ability to protect their sensitive products.12 West Africa, comprising the 15 member countries of the
AFRICA 75
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