Search

PR, IFPRI4; 1 Fostering Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Food Supply, Development Strategies and Governance (DSG); Transformation Strategies, The livestock sector plays a major role in the Kenyan food system, contributing about 12 percent of the country’s overall GDP and 40 percent of agricultural GDP, and employing about half of the agricultural labor force (Kenya Markets Trust 2019a). The livestock sector also contributes 22 percent of food system GDP. Projections from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) indicate that the country’s population will continue to grow, and may reach around 96 million by 2050, with nearly 50 percent residing in urban areas by then compared with 27 percent in 2019 (FAO 2019; MacMillan 2019). Demand for animal-source foods is expected to grow substantially with this population growth and as higher numbers of affluent and more urban consumers seek nutrient-rich foods and more diversified diets (FAO 2019). This change in demand could potentially drive exponential growth in the livestock sector, generating new business opportunities along various livestock value chains. Realizing such growth will require concerted investments to support increased productivity and enhanced natural resource management, including enhanced water availability and management, to ensure sustainable growth of the sector (ILRI 2019; Bosire et al. 2022).

Trade policies form the main economic “buffer” between one national economy and another, i.e. the general and specific elements of each nation’s trade policy interact directly or indirectly with those of other nations in all economic transactions across international borders. A nation’s trade policy involves specific actions to encourage and promote or discourage foreign trade through the legal, financial and institutional environment within which foreign transactions occur. This study evaluates the trade policy applicable to the beef and maize sub-sectors in South Africa. Issues that are investigated include whether trade policy provides more or less protection than needed, whether it creates more openness for trade and the revealed comparative advantage of beef and maize. According to the RCA and RCA# the beef sub-sector in South Africa shows a revealed comparative disadvantage for 17 out of the 22 years since 1980. The maize sub-sector, on the other hand, shows a revealed comparative advantage for 18 out of the 22 years since 1980. It appears as if both the beef and maize sub-sectors have adjusted favourably since the implementation of the Marrakesh Agreement and subsequent deregulation of the domestic market. Favourably in this context means that both sub-sectors appear to have discounted the changing trade and regulatory environments into their respective supply chains. It is however important to take note that the results do not show the real state of competitiveness that exists in these sub-sectors. The reason for this is that the RCA measures should not be used to make definite conclusions whether an industry, sector or sub-sector in a country is competitive nor whether it uses scare resources in an efficient manner. The RCA measures explain in more accurate ways, relative to a simple analysis of export trends, how a country features in the context of word trade. Hence, one possible application of RCA measures is to deduct the impact of changes in trade poli