Global Harvest Initiative (GHI) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA) welcome this opportunity to participate in this critical conversation about the linkages between trade and food security.
We present the following case study, which appeared in GHI’s 2013 Global Agricultural Productivity Report®, as well as some policy recommendations for unlocking the power of trade to deliver development and food security benefits.
Training and Technical Cooperation in the Americas for Better Agribusiness, Markets, and Trade
The Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region holds vast potential to provide food and agriculture products to meet the demands of a growing world. According to the GHI’s 2014 Global Agricultural Productivity Report®, if the LAC region maintains their current rate of Total Factor Productivity growth, by 2030 they will be able to meet 116% of regional demand. Trading this agricultural surplus will solidify LAC as the next global breadbasket.
In order to harness the potential of trade and ensure that small and medium scale producers benefit from it, IICA provides training and technical cooperation among its 34 member states, resulting in better policies, institutional frameworks, and capabilities to improve and facilitate market and trade development. (*GHI has identified key policies that create an enabling environment for trade, agricultural development and food security. See below.)
IICA also helps improve export capabilities of small and medium scale producers. Using a Canadian methodology called “Export Platforms,” IICA strengthened the capacities of some 400 small and medium enterprises from Central America to export agricultural products in high demand in North America.
In collaboration with USDA, IICA consolidated the Market Information of the Americas (MIOA) that facilitates the timely and consistent exchange of market information on agricultural commodities and products among its member countries. Senior officials are trained to collect, analyze and disseminate market information, and improve their services. In Costa Rica, for example, officials are using the knowledge acquired through MIOA to assist producers by collecting price information at the farm-gate and consumer levels, developing and distributing national and international price surveys, processing production estimates and forecasts, and providing information and domestic and international market news for products of interest to Costa Rican producers. Price information is now available via mobile phones so that more than 900 farmers can access information using short term messages.
This case study is a reminder that trade is not a "zero-sum game", in which small producers are the inevitable “losers” and large producers “win” at their expense. Market and trade strengthening interventions, such as those encouraged by IICA, can help maximize the food security and development benefits of trade for producers of all scales.
*Delivering food security and development through international trade relies on an enabling policy environment that emphasizes:
- Consistent, transparent, and science-based frameworks for regulating food safety, along with reliable processes for administering sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) rules;
- Legal and regulatory issues play a significant role at all stages in value chain development – including inputs, production, processing, transport, and end markets;
- A focus on services including laws and regulations that can support open systems for transport and distribution services; financial services; and wholesale, retail, franchising, and other services;
- Regional integration and harmonization of trade laws and regulations, with a particular focus on how laws and regulations are being implemented; and
- Adequate and equitable intellectual rights protection is becoming increasingly important as technology, information sharing, and communication play an even larger role in value chain development.
For more, see GHI’s policy paper: International Trade and Agriculture: Supporting Value Chains to Deliver Development and Food Security.
Ann Steensland