Estimating the Constraints to Agricultural Trade of Developing Countries

Evdokia Moïsé, Claire Delpeuch, Silvia Sorescu, Novella Bottini and Arthur Foch
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Evdokia Moïsé: OECD
Silvia Sorescu: OECD

No 142, OECD Trade Policy Papers from OECD Publishing

Abstract: Agricultural trade is widely considered as an important contributor to developing countries‘ economic growth, poverty alleviation and food security. This report identifies and analyses some of the most important supply-side constraints to developing countries‘ exports of agricultural products, in order to inform prioritisation and sequencing of domestic policy reforms as well as targeting of donor interventions. The analysis is supplemented by case studies of Aid for Trade programmes supporting agricultural trade expansion in Indonesia, Zambia and Mozambique. The report confirms that developing countries‘ agricultural exports are highly responsive to the quality of transport and trade-related infrastructure, while tariffs still have a significant negative impact. The analysis also highlights the importance of complementary policies such as education and political stability on developing countries‘ agricultural trade performance. In the poorest countries of the sample, significant trade expansion could be achieved by easing constraints related to governance and infrastructure quality, as well as by lifting constraints related to the efficient use of existing freshwater resources. The case studies illustrate the impact on agricultural exports of constraints related to standards and conformity assessment or access to credit, in particular as regards small and medium agricultural producers, processors and traders. They also show the contribution of donor supported programmes promoting private sector initiatives to poverty reduction through increased employment and the promotion of production adapted to local endowments.

Keywords: agricultural trade; aid for trade; binding constraints; developing countries; food security; poverty reduction; trade expansion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F13 O13 O19 Q17 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-01-31
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-dev, nep-int and nep-sea
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oec:traaab:142-en

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