As Region Reels from Ukraine Wheat Disruptions, USAID Activity Seeks to Boost East Africa Trade

Edwin Odhiambo, Policy LINK Director of Technical Programs and Policy, speaking at the June 9 capstone event of the Strengthening Competitiveness for Regional Agricultural Trade activity.

On June 9, 2022, Policy LINK presented the findings of its 20-month action-oriented research activity, Strengthening Competitiveness for Regional Agricultural Trade, at a capstone meeting of 30 representatives from USAID Kenya and East Africa, donor implementing partners, and the private and public sectors. The meeting comes as the region grapples with supply chain disruptions and commodity price spikes in the wake of Russia’s Ukraine invasion.  

With food security and livelihoods in the balance, participants sought to to facilitate regional trade linkages aimed at easing supply shocks caused by the blockade of Ukrainian ports. By some estimates, Ukraine and Russia supply up to 40 percent of Africa’s wheat needs. Overcoming this shortfall will take stronger private sector leadership and partnerships as well as measures to boost productivity, reduce logistics costs, and eliminate trade barriers like inconsistent food safety compliance standards.

Trade Model

The potential is there. Although only a quarter of agricultural trade in East Africa is intra-regional, production is up for items like meat and cash crops. Getting these commodities across borders hinges on three interventions, according to the USAID activity’s research—increasing productivity, reducing trade barriers, and lowering logistical costs. To these ends, the activity proposed eight related interventions that it had developed with input from private- and public-sector stakeholders over the course of the last year.

The interventions are part of a regional trade programing model that anchors solutions in a clear-eyed diagnosis of the challenges, an insistence on local leadership, and a focus on appropriate timeframes and resources. The model urges that donors play a facilitative role, ensuring that sustainable solutions are driven by the private sector, with government co-designing policies that enable these solutions.

Digital Tools

By some estimates, Ukraine and Russia supply some 40 percent of Africa’s wheat needs. Overcoming this shortfall will take stronger private sector leadership and partnerships as well as measures to boost productivity, reduce logistics costs, and eliminate trade barriers.

Topping the list of urgently needed solutions were access to and adoption of high-yield seed and effective agrochemicals as well as ensuring common-sense, consistent standards for cross-border food safety compliance. To these ends, participants stressed the importance of private-sector leadership and industry self-regulation to increase compliance, strengthen the organization of private sector actors across value chains, and engage and partner with government to provide support services—from extension to certification and quality assurance. 

Along with industry self-regulation and public investment in standards infrastructure, a range of scalable digital tools can further transform the business of trade. Easy access to market information, digital extension and e-logistics resources, and online networks of value chain actors can go a long way to streamlining processes and reducing the costs of trade facilitation. Imagine, for example, a digital logistics marketplace, integrated single window systems, and smart corridors to facilitate trade.  

Next Steps

Key to Policy LINK’s approach leading up to the June 9 meeting was to bring together a wide range of stakeholders as part of a Strategic Partners Group. The group includes private sector leaders, like the Federation of East African Freight Forwarders Association, Corteva Agriscience, and Croplife, as well as donor-funded programs like those of One Acre Fund and USAID. Together, members of the Strategic Partners Group will work to sustain the momentum built by USAID’s Strengthening Competitiveness for Regional Agricultural Trade activity. Guiding these efforts will be a set of Policy LINK-produced solutions papers and associated briefs, which are slated for publication in July.

Participants in the June 9 meeting gather for a group photo. Their work will continue through a Strategic Partners Group established as part of the Policy LINK activity.