By IPS Correspondents
YAOUNDE, Feb 28 2000 (IPS)

Fruit lovers in Tunisia may not realise that their Cameroon-grown bananas were warehoused in France before reaching their final destination.

This is one of many examples cited by a Cameroonian expert to illustrate how intra-African trade in agricultural products, which many believe to be the answer to the growing marginalisation of African products on the global market, remains a pipe dream.

A conference on intra-regional trade in agricultural and food products in Yaounde, Cameroon on Feb 22 was the venue for many experts to lament the paucity of agricultural trade between African countries.

“It seems illogical to buy from distant countries when right next door, in our own or neighbouring countries or elsewhere on the continent, we can buy anything we need,” said Bello Bouba Maigari, Cameroonian Senior Minister in Charge of Industrial and Trade Development.

The meeting, which ran concurrently with the 21st Regional Conference of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), was called to identify areas where intra-regional trade might help resolve food supply dependability issues in Africa.

Delegates revealed a litany of obstacles thwarting development of the region’s agricultural commerce.

A major problem cited was the lack of information on surpluses and shortages in various products on the continent.

The experts said those areas with surpluses in agricultural products could supply those with shortages if such information were readily available.

The products in question are those which are widely produced and sold on the region such as cereals, vegetable oils, dairy products, meats, and sugar.

Bamidele F. Dada, Assistant General Director and Regional Representative for the FAO in Africa, says that generally all regions of Africa have low supplies of the larger grains.

North Africa generally has large shortages, central Africa to a lesser extent.

According to the FAO executive, forecasts of surpluses and shortages in the larger grains the 1999-2000 growing year revealed that only 14 out of 52 African countries had surpluses, ranging from 2,000 tonnes for Mauritania to 400,000 tonnes for Malawi.

Dada also noted that because of a drop in corn production, substantial informal trading would be feasible between several eastern African countries, mainly Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Kenya, who export corn, as do their southern African neighbours.

But the situation, unfortunately, is not that simple, as many participants pointed out.

Traditional diets vary from region to region, and also, within the same region, countries tend to grow similar crops.

“In west Africa, for example, everyone grows the same thing. In years when there is a shortage, everyone is also looking to buy the same thing. In good years, then everyone warehouses the same crop,” said Sawadogo Omer, a delegate from Burkina Faso.

“Furthermore, each country maintains more or less its own dietary habits. That means that exchanges are not always desirable,” he added.

Besides availability, there also remains the problem of transportation, another bottleneck for intra-continental trading.

“We need to develop a decent highway system, and a good air and sea transport network. If we want to improve intra-regional commerce, we need to base it on some solid organisation,” said Diarra Sitapha of the Association for the Promotion of Rice- growing in Western Africa (ADRAO).

Other obstacles include the absence of harmonised trade laws, problems with currency exchange, and the rigid health regulations of certain countries.

Inter-African agricultural commerce also suffers from the fact that the industrialised world has granted African producers preferential access to its markets, making selling there more lucrative than selling within Africa.

“Preferential access to the markets of the European Community and the United States means that exports to those countries command higher prices than those to other markets, including those in Africa,” the conference working document stated.

The desire to break through to markets outside of Africa was also expressed by the participants. There too, however, problems exist.

Djellab Said, the Algerian delegate, said subsidies for agriculture in the developed countries and restrictive trade barriers protecting their markets placed a damper on exports leaving Africa.

“A reduction in subsidies and the elimination of trade barriers would constitute a form of aid to African countries to help them export agricultural products. As a consequence, it could help finance the development of African agriculture,” Said said.

Economists say the marketing of African agricultural products is a particularly apt topic right now, given that the World Trade Organisation is opening new international negotiations, and that the European Union and the ACP (Africa-Caribbean-Pacific) countries plan to re-examine preferential accords linking the two groups at the end of this month.

These negotiations will determine the future of African agricultural products. The African countries have vowed to act as a unified whole to defend their interests during these international meetings.

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