Consultancy to analyse food demands, the competitiveness of domestic supply chains thereby developing strategies to enhance trade flows of key food crops in Southern, East and West Africa

The Project at A Glance

Sub-Saharan Africa has enormous potential not only to feed itself and eliminate hunger and food insecurity, but also to be a major player in global food markets. Recognising this opportunity, AGRA and other major development players have chosen to make agriculture the new frontier for sustainable development for Africa.
International Economics supported AGRA by analysing food demand trends, the competitiveness of domestic supply chains thereby developing strategies to enhance trade flows of key food crops in Southern, East, and West Africa.

What We Found

Agriculture is a proven path to prosperity and it forms a significant portion of the economies of all African countries. As a sector it can therefore contribute towards major continental priorities, such as eradicating poverty and hunger, boosting intra-Africa trade and investments, rapid industrialisation and economic diversification, sustainable resource and environmental management, and creating jobs, human security and shared prosperity.
Our team supported AGRA by providing relevant information to AGRA on prioritising and better targeting its interventions in terms of geography, food commodities and points of leverage in the market system per region to capitalise on latent opportunities to grow intra-regional food trade.

Our Strategy and Impact

Agriculture remains Africa’s surest bet for growing inclusive economies and creating decent jobs especially for the youth. The information collected gave us the basis for a framework for prioritisation of priority food value chains based on an analysis of competitiveness, policy and regulatory gaps, differences in agro-ecologies, infrastructure availability/limitations and level of investment along promising economic corridors.
Our team developed a framework by analysing the trade and food security potential of the top 5 food value chains in each country by identifying key challenges in the trade flows of the top 5 commodities and mapped the existing logistical support capacity of each country. We focused on promotion of an inclusive and sustainable regional food trade for maximum scale and impact on regional food security and income growth.

Our Core Solutions

As businesses seek to expand operations into new markets, the need to explore global supply chains and understand the international regulatory framework becomes crucial. At International Economics Consulting, we build tailor-made strategies for both import and export-oriented business solutions.