Recent proliferation of regional trade agreements (RTAs) has intensified the debate on merits of
south-south trade agreements. This study contributes to this debate by analyzing trade creation and
trade diversion effects of African RTAs on trade in nine of the eleven strategic agricultural
products. An extended gravity model is estimated using PPML. Results indicate that African
RTAs have mixed effect on trade creation and trade diversion. Net trade creation is positive in
four of the eight RTA and it is negative in three. Further, for a significant number of the individual
agrifood commodities, regional agreements in Africa have increased openness to non-members’
trade while increasing trade among themselves. Although a lot remains to be done, RTAs in Africa
are attractive means to speed up the move towards common market for agricultural products in the
continent. This will have positive implication for food security and sustainable agricultural
development in the continent
