Cereals Trade Patterns In The Sadcc Region

An AEE Working Paper on : CEREALS TRADE PATTERNS IN THE SADCC REGIONThe general objectives of the research project are as follows: 1. To describe current and historical .patterns of agricultural trade: within the SADCC region; between SADCC countries and South Africa; and between SADCC countries and the rest of the world, with particular emphasis on food grains, and farm inputs such as fertilizer, seed, and machinery; 2. To determine the extent to which an economic basis for trade exists within the SADCC region, given current prices and transportation costs; 3. To evaluate alternative domestic agricultural and macro-economic policies which have impacts on trade and food security; 4. To identify present constraints to expanded trade in commodities relevant to food security (both intra-regionally and internationally), focusing on transactions costs and risk; 5. To analyze the potential for a number of policies and programs to expand trade in agricultural commodities and-inputs, thereby improving food security in the SADCC region

Cereals Trade Patterns in the SADCC Region

An on-going food security research program conducted by the University of Zimbabwe and Michigan State University under a Food Security in Africa Cooperative Agreement.In recent years, the nine member states of SADCC have increasingly voiced an interest in expanded intra-regional trade as one strategy towards increased food security within the region. The fact that six of the nine countries are landlocked, transport costs are high, and dependence on trade with external countries (including South Africa) is viewed as precarious, have contributed to a sense of urgency which resulted in the funding of pre-feasibility and feasibility studies for the establishment of a regional food security scheme based on local reserves. However, levels of intra-regional trade have historically been low. The proportion of intra-SADCC trade in overall trade is only 4-5% (Chr.. Michelsen, 1985). For food grains such as maize, much intra-regional trade has been in the form of donor-supported food aid (although percentages of commercial versus aid imports have never been comprehensively quantified). In an effort to contribute to the knowledge base on SADCC agricultural marketing and trade, the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension of the University of Zimbabwe, in collaboration with Michigan State University, initiated a research project, in mid-1987 -to explore constraints to and potentials for expanded trade in the SADCC region 1.The United States Agency for International Development, with contributions from the Regional Office’for Southern Africa, the Africa Bureau, and the Science and Technology Bureau

GATT Trade Liberalization: The U.S. Proposal

After 3 1/2 years, the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is moving into its final stages. The United States and several other nations have presented separate proposals for comprehensive agricultural trade reform. The U.S. proposal seeks to make major reforms in import access, export competition. Internal support policies, and sanitary and phytosanitary measures. If implemented, this proposal would produce higher world market prices, lower taxpayer costs, and, in some key countries, significantly lower consumer prices