"A robust and well-integrated global agrifood system can help all countries withstand unprecedented challenges, as evidenced during the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, when global agrifood markets proved to be remarkably resilient," the FAO said in its latest State of Agricultural Commodity Markets report.
"Currently, the trade policy environment is characterized by slow progress in multilateral trade negotiations under the World Trade Organization and a proliferation of deeper regional trade agreements that aim, in addition to market access, to promote convergence in domestic policies and regulations," the FAO explained.
The agrifood trade map in SOCO 2022 showed that while"global wealth has grown, the share claimed by low-income countries has not changed much." This is especially true for the sub-Saharan region. Trade costs could be significant, and for low-income countries"can add up to 400 percent to a product's final price, much more than for items traded between high-income countries," the report said.
Coupled with a lack of good infrastructure and cumbersome procedures, this would not"provide incentives to trade within the continent."