The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), through the West Africa Food System Resilience Programme (FSRP) is in the process of assessing the performance of FSRP member states in cross-border trade of agricultural inputs and products. A research-oriented method called the ‘ECOWAS Agricultural Trade and Market Scorecard’ (EATM-S) is being used to monitor the rate of each country’s compliance with regional trade policies and regulations.
The EATM-S is also for monitoring trade transparency and accountability among sister nations, as well as eliminating all manner of trade barriers related to agriculture and agric inputs– and promoting intra-regional trade and market integration of agricultural goods and inputs. Through FSRP, ECOWAS aims at boosting regional trade by 10% in order to achieve itsobjective to consolidate food reserve systems and increase preparedness against food insecurity in the sub-region.
ASSIGNMENT
Same as other member countries, in Ghana, a National Working Group, led by FSRP, went around the country to collate and assess Ghana’s cross-border agricultural trade activities and ascertain the level of compliance or otherwise by member countries. It involved senior representatives of the Ministry of Food & Agriculture (MoFA), Ministry of Trade, Industry & Agribusiness, Ghana Standards Authority, Ghana Revenue Authority, African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and private sector representation.
SOURCES
The National Working Group scooped their data from manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, traders, forwarding agents, logistics/shipping and transport companies. Other sources were: public authorities or bodies, including customs and standards regulators, including, Chamber of Commerce, trade experts and practitioners and business advocacy groups within the region.
FOCAL AREAS
Under the EATM-S, member countries are being ‘investigated’ for: the extent and value of intra-regional imports and exports of agricultural goods and inputs; time spent and cost of trade of agricultural goods and inputs across borders; prevalence of custom duties or other charges with equivalent effect; the prevalence of restrictions, prohibitions and documentation requirements at borders; the prevalence of administrative obstacles to regional trade of agricultural goods and inputs; the quality of transport infrastructure and frequency of road inspections and checkpoints.
Under close ECOWAS supervision, Ghana and FSRP member countries are also being probed for their adherence to the implementation of the ECOWAS Common External Tarif, implementation of an electronic system for customs declaration; tendencies to reject mutually recognized documents related to agricultural trade; and number of coordinated joint physical inspections among countries’ control agencies. The number of public and private actors trained on agricultural trade-related non-tariff measures and the existence of monitoring mechanisms to implement agricultural trade related to non-tariff measures are all under scrutiny.
VALIDATION
ECOWAS assigned AKADEMIYA2063 - a renowned regional research organisation to facilitate the development of the scorecard methodology. Representatives of both ECOWAS and Akademiya2063 are visiting Ghana this week to participate in a National Validation Workshop to validate the accuracy, consistency and quality of the data gathered. The entire EATM-S implementation process including the methodology, composition of EATM-S Working Group, data collection and analysis process for both primary and secondary agricultural trade data would be critically analysed for validation.
ABOUT FSRP
FSRP is a World Bank funded program of the Government of Ghana, promoted by ECOWAS. It is to strengthen food system risk management, improve the sustainability of the agricultural productive base and harmonize agricultural markets in the West African sub region. Component 3 of FSRP focuses on the promotion of regional trade as part of measures to ensure food safety and resilience among member nations.
Comments (3)
Very good product, thanks to fsrp
By Random User • 25th March, 2025
Great move
By Random User • 25th March, 2025
That is a good move
By Random User • 26th March, 2025