The managing Consultant of Africa Trade Academy and a staff at GIZ, Dode Seidu has stated that AFCFTA is the new dawn for Agribusiness across Africa offering job opportunities, Food security and others.
Speaking to Agrictoday on Monday, March 20, 2023 at the Accra Airport View Hotel in a summit organized by the Ghana Chamber of Agribusiness in collaboration with GIZ and German corporation that constituted some farmers and investors in the Agricultural sector, Dode who facilitated the conversation opined that;
"AFCFTA is an initiative of the African Union supported by the Member states of Africa to support member states to boost intra-African trade. Basically on the summit is a presentation of AFCFTA to an important stakeholder in Ghana who are focused on the Agricultural sector (The Ghana Chamber of Agribusiness).
Focusing on the business of the day is a discussion of the detailed agreement on AFCFTA, opportunities in the African Market, Rules of Origin(RoO) as well as Services trade and particularly, the tarrif offers with the conditions of taking advantage of the AFCFTA.
All in all, it's been a very fruitful day considering the initiative and it's advantages. He goes on to explain how AFCFTA will affect or impact Agribusiness across Africa. Agricultural sector is a very significant sector of many African countries which provides employment, job security, livelihood. And so being able to take advantage of the initiative will go a long way to aid African countries to grow and expand their economies.
Because we produce almost similar goods, the AFCFTA provides an opportunity for more value addition to Agriculture products, it also provide the opportunity to ensure food security, because food security is a function of Trade. There are places in Africa where sometimes in a year they have shortages of food, sometimes too abundance of food. And so trade is key when it comes to promiting and providing food security across Africa" he said.
Meanwhile, Dr. Mensah Christian Sewordor, the director of Knowledge management for the Ghana Chamber of Agribusiness added that, "The Chamber has had some calls from members on capacity building and especially when we are into trade linkages. And so the issue of breaking through the African Market dawn on us that we needed measures to take advantage of AFCFTA for our members.
The Chamber therefore deemed it necessary to organize a capacity building from the knowledge management and its directorate, I must say it was a fruitful training as the chamber of Agribusiness s trying to build capacity in terms of trade Protocols within the African Continent, especially enrolling our Members who are into processing, production and others.
The Chamber is hoping to extend this capacity building to other parts of Ghana and not only Accra so as to make our members benefit even to the grassroots for those into export and production" he said.
About Ghana Chamber of Agribusiness
The Chamber of Agribusiness Ghana is the apex body of agriculture and agribusiness sector players in Ghana (agribusiness companies, national agriculture associations and farmer base organizations) with the mission of working to address challenges facing Ghana's agribusiness/agriculture value chain sector development
Vision: We support smallholder producer-led cooperatives and agribusinesses with technical, market and regulatory services. Chamber of Agribusiness, Ghana represents member organizations in policy dialogues and multi-stakeholder platforms.
The Chamber serves as the voice of agribusiness industry (covering smallholder producer cooperatives and agribusiness value chain actors) with utmost commitment to playing a leadership role that is solely dedicated to enriching the agribusiness sector in Ghana, through deliberate advocacy, lobbying, capacity building and rural financing.
“support farmers reach a Living Income with income diversification strategies”
About AFCFTA
The AfCFTA is the world’s largest free trade area bringing together the 55 countries of the African Union (AU) and eight (8) Regional Economic Communities (RECs). The overall mandate of the AfCFTA is to create a single continental market with a population of about 1.3 billion people and a combined GDP of approximately US$ 3.4 trillion.
The AfCFTA is one of the flagship projects of Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want, the African Union’s long-term development strategy for transforming the continent into a global powerhouse.
As part of its mandate, the AfCFTA is to eliminate trade barriers and boost intra-Africa trade. In particular, it is to advance trade in value-added production across all service sectors of the African Economy.
The AfCFTA will contribute to establishing regional value chains in Africa, enabling investment and job creation. The practical implementation of the AfCFTA has the potential to foster industrialisation, job creation, and investment, thus enhancing the competitiveness of Africa in the medium to long term.
The AfCFTA entered into force on May 30, 2019, after 24 Member States deposited their Instruments of Ratification following a series of continuous continental engagements spanning since 2012. It was launched at the 12th Extraordinary Session of the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government in Niamey – Niger, in July 2019.
The commencement of trading under the AfCFTA was in January 1, 2021. The AfCFTA Secretariat is hosted in Accra, Ghana. His Excellency Wamkele Mene is the first elected Secretary-General coordinating the implementation of the Agreement.
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