Experts at the opening session of a two-day discussion on Thursday called for capacity building to bring together different stakeholders to address contemporary issues in agri-food trade sector.
The Policy Research Institute (PRI) of Bangladesh in partnership with the South Asia Regional Office of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) hosted the two-day capacity strengthening session on agri-food trade policy analysis at a city hotel.
The event brought together experts, and stakeholders from leading institutions of Bangladesh and India in the agri-food trade sector.
Participants discussed new paradigms in agri-food trade policy and global value chains, domestic agricultural policies, border policies and international trade dynamics including the role of World Trade Organization (WTO) and Free Trade Agreements.
Experts discussed real-life case studies on coffee, maize and cooking oil and hands-on demonstrations of trade patterns.
Agriculture plays a crucial role in the economies of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) member countries, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Not only do these countries have a vibrant agricultural sector with successful agro-processing industries and participation in the global value chain; their agri-food trade and commerce are growing, both within and across borders.
Analysis of agri-food trade policies involves a comprehensive examination of regulations, tariffs, subsidies, and market dynamics that shape the exchange of agricultural and food products between countries.
The BIMSTEC Agricultural Trade Monitor Plus (BATM+) dashboard by IFPRI uses 8-digit data provides a wealth of information on trade statistics such as trade patterns, trade policies, and aims to support all BIMSTEC member countries in developing the trade statistics needed to monitor and manage their performance in the global economy.
Increasing evidence from 8-digit disaggregated trade data shows that agri-food trade has a substantial prevalence of intra-industry trade and is one of the primary sources of growth. Value chain integration, such as manufacturing, has become the core of agri-food trade where products are exported, processed, packaged, and exported after branding.
By not being a part of these structural changes and relying solely on customs data to assess global trade flows can be limiting for countries, if not misleading, because the data only provides information about the destination and origin of goods and not how those goods were produced, or which country contributed the most value. Instead, they can use constructed data on trade in value-added forms of production since many countries are now specializing in different stages of a goods production sequence rather than in final goods.
Dr Zaidi Sattar, Chairman of PRI, Prof C Veeramani, Director and Prof at Centre for Development Studies, Prof Aparna Sawhney, teacher of Jawaharlal Nehru University in India, and Dr Mamata Pradhan, Research Coordinator of IFPRI, emphasised the significance of capacity building workshops in bringing together different stakeholders to discuss and address contemporary issues in agri-food trade sector.
Dr Shamsul Alam, former State Minister for Planning, said, "Policies related agri-food trade is critically important for South Asia and BIMSTEC region. We welcome capacity building effort of IFPRI and PRI in this area of agri-food trade policy."
