Intra-African trade—especially agricultural trade—is much larger than official statistics suggest. In West Africa, an estimated 30 percent of staple foods cross borders informally, and informal trade across some African borders—particularly for perishable foods like fruits and vegetables—far exceeds formal trade. Recent initiatives have made great strides in assessing the magnitude of the gap between reported trade and total trade.

This seminar discussed emerging trends in agricultural informal cross-border trade, the barriers to participating in formal customs procedures and trade, and the central role of female informal traders. The presenters considered how border closures and restrictions due to COVID-19 have disproportionately affected informal trade.

Introduction:

Patterson Brown, Senior Trade Advisor, Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Speakers:

Brahima Cisse, Expert, Comité Inter-Etat de Lutte contre la Sècheresse au Sahel (CILSS)

Nadia Hasham, Trade Policy Expert, African Trade Policy Centre, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)

Fousseini Traoré, Research Fellow, IFPRI

Closing Remarks:

Antoine Bouet, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI

Moderator:

Julie Kurtz, Research Analyst, IFPRI

LINKS:

Book: COVID-19 And Global Food Security: http://bit.ly/IFPRICovidBook

IFPRI Resources And Analyses Of COVID-19 Impact: https://www.ifpri.org/covid-19

More on the seminar: https://www.ifpri.org/event/virtual-event-informal-african-trade-hidden-world-food-flows

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