Standards affect agro-food exports from AfricaMain findings of book and final conference of SAFE research and capacity building programAs classic trade barriers such as tariffs are being dismantled, standards on food safety, the environment and socio-economic conditions of production can keep African agro-food products out of Northern markets. At the same time, standards can also provide opportunities for pro-poor growth and upgrading, under specific conditions. These are some of the main findings of the final conference of the research and capacity building programme ‘Standards and Agro-food Exports: Challenges for Africa’ (SAFE) and related book, just published by Palgrave, edited by Peter Gibbon, Stefano Ponte and Evelyne Lazaro. On May 31st-1 June 2010, twelve researchers from the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, Sokoine University of Agriculture (Tanzania) and five from DIIS, DTU and Copenhagen University met in Zanzibar to hold the final conference of the FFU-financed research and capacity building programme on ‘Standards and Agro-food Exports: Challenges for Africa’ (SAFE). The conference was attended by a wide range of Tanzanian stakeholders including senior officials of the Tanzanian Ministry of Industry and Trade, representatives of several private sector organizations, representatives of public agencies dealing with standards and private businesspeople. It was opened by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar. Most of the presentations at the conference reported findings from the programme published by Palgrave in a book with the same title as the conference, which was launched in Tanzania on the conference’s first day. In addition, two overview papers were presented, one jointly by the Tanzanian coordinator of the programme, Dr Evelyne Lazaro and Stefano Ponte of DIIS. The second, on lessons for donors of the findings of the programme, was presented by its coordinator in Denmark, Peter Gibbon. At a Stakeholder Steering Committee meeting following the end of the conference, several stakeholders expressed warm thanks for the work of the programme, and in particular its Tanzanian participants, in successfully disseminating knowledge about international agro-food standards and issues concerning conformity with them, across a wide swathe of agricultural export sectors in the country. They further congratulated the programme team on training three Tanzanian agricultural economists to PhD level in the area of standards and standards conformity, thus contributing significantly to the development of local capacity in the area. For presentations at the conference, please visit the SAFE programme website |
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