AfCFTA, the world’s largest free trade area creating a single continental market with a combined GDP of approximately US$ 3.4 trillion is the new dawn for Agribusiness across Africa offering job opportunities and Food security, a consultant for GIZ, Dode Seidu stated.
Speaking to Agric Today in a summit organized by the Ghana Chamber of Agribusiness and supported by GIZ AfCFTA Secretariat, Dode said the AfCFTA is an initiative of the African Union supported by the Member states of Africa to support member states to boost intra-African trade.
He mention that the submit focused on 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 tariff offers with the conditions of taking advantage of the AfCFTA.
Acknowledging the critical role agriculture plays in the sectors to the development of the economies in African countries, Dode explained that the agricultural sector is a very significant sector of many African countries that provides employment, job security, and improves livelihood, therefore, being able to take advantage of the initiative will go a long way to aid African countries to revamp, grow and expand their economies.
“Because we produce almost similar goods, the AfCFTA provides an opportunity for value addition to agricultural products. It also provides the opportunity to ensure food security because food security is a function of Trade that regulates abundance and shortage of food among that African countries”, 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 in this regard, so the issue of breaking through the African Market through this initiative is very advantageous for our members.
Commending the knowledge-based of the submit to the knowledge management directorate at the Chamber, Dr. Sewordor said that the training is critical as the Chamber is trying to build the members’ capacity in terms of trade protocols within the African continent, especially enrolling the members who are into processing.
“The Chamber is hoping to extend this capacity building to other parts of Ghana not only Accra so as to make our members benefit even to the grassroots for those who are into export and local production” he added
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.
It 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.
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.
It supports 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 the 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.
