What's New

This piece originally appeared on IFPRI.org .

By Dennis O. Ochieng and Emily Wu

By: Antoine Bouet

The third annual Africa Agriculture Trade Monitor (AATM) was released last week. The report finds both good news and bad news for Africa’s trading system, as well as some important promises.

First the good news.

By Sara Gustafson

Over the last decade, Ethiopia’s dairy sector has expanded rapidly. Urban consumers have significantly increased the amount of money they spend on dairy products, and the number of domestic dairy processing firms has tripled to meet the growing demand. All of these signs point to significant structural transformation, which plays an important role in reducing poverty and increasing welfare in developing countries. However, a new study finds that despite its recent strong growth, Ethiopia’s dairy sector still faces some important hurdles.

Recent occurrences in the global arena, such as volatile commodity and resource markets, suggest the urgent need for African countries to develop policy options that can mitigate resource constraints and their attendant consequences. The transformation and development of Africa’s agricultural sector, especially the development of functional value chains, hold huge potentials for African economies through employment creation, income generation, and improvement of household livelihoods.

By Obayelu Abiodun Elijah and Obayelu Oluwakemi Adeola