Why is Agricultural Trade within ECOWAS so High?

Abdoulaye Seck, Jonathan Haughton, Lassana Cissoko and Kossi Makpayo

No 3744, EcoMod2012 from EcoMod

Abstract: It is widely believed that the countries of Africa trade relatively little with the outside world, and among themselves, despite an extensive network of regional trade agreements. We examine this proposition by focusing on agricultural trade. Specifically, we ask whether non-tariff barriers (NTBs) are stunting agricultural trade within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a grouping of 15 countries in West Africa that has removed tariffs on agricultural trade among its members.We estimate a gravity model of agricultural trade, using data from 135 countries for 2000, 2003, and 2006, and employing two types of structural specification (Tobit and Heckit). To further explore the issue of NTBs, a survey of truckers was conducted in Tambacounda (Senegal) in August 2009 which found evidence of extensive bribery by police and border officials, effectively representing a barrier to trading.A robust result emerges: agricultural trade among the countries of ECOWAS is higher than one would expect. This does not mean that there are no NTBs within ECOWAS, but it does imply that any such barriers are less harmful to agricultural trade in ECOWAS than in the world as a whole. Similar effects are found for the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the South African Development Community (SADC). This suggests that African countries are not averse to agricultural trade, and local traders have been effective at exploiting trade opportunities.

Keywords: 15 ECOWAS countries (West Africa); Trade and regional integration; Agricultural issues (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-07-01
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Why Is Agricultural Trade within ECOWAS So High? (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ekd:002672:3744

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