Regional Integration and Agricultural Trade in East Africa: A Comparative Analysis of Ethiopia and Kenya
(2020) EKHS22 20211Department of Economic History
- Abstract
- Regional integration on the African continent has been promoted for decades as a means to sustained economic development in Africa, with multiple agreements on the continent to stimulate such integration. Many countries are members of these regional integration organizations on the basis of increasing intra-regional trade and cooperation. This study is a comparative analysis between two countries within East Africa, Kenya and Ethiopia, with respect to imports of staple agricultural goods. The extent to which regional integration has influenced agricultural trade is examined by calculating the amount of inter-regional trade of staple agricultural goods comparative to trade outside of East Africa and comparing the change over two periods of... (More)
- Regional integration on the African continent has been promoted for decades as a means to sustained economic development in Africa, with multiple agreements on the continent to stimulate such integration. Many countries are members of these regional integration organizations on the basis of increasing intra-regional trade and cooperation. This study is a comparative analysis between two countries within East Africa, Kenya and Ethiopia, with respect to imports of staple agricultural goods. The extent to which regional integration has influenced agricultural trade is examined by calculating the amount of inter-regional trade of staple agricultural goods comparative to trade outside of East Africa and comparing the change over two periods of time. Although theory and rhetoric by international
organizations and individual governments would suggest a high amount of regional trade, it appears that the majority of staple crops in Ethiopia and Kenya are still imported outside of both the East African region as well as the African continent and instead from developed countries due to their more competitive pricing. There is then little incentive for agricultural intra-regional trade so long as staple goods can be imported from outside of the continent for a cheaper price. In this respect, it cannot be asserted that regional integration has so far contributed towards creating higher intra-African agricultural trade. In light of this, barriers to integration must be addressed, and further development of the agricultural sector is necessary in order to increase productivity and offer competitive prices. Regional integration without meaningfully addressing this makes little economic sense. (Less) - Popular Abstract
- Regional integration on the African continent has been promoted for decades as a means to sustained economic development in Africa, with multiple agreements on the continent to stimulate such integration. Many countries are members of these regional integration organizations on the basis of increasing intra-regional trade and cooperation. This study is a comparative analysis between two countries within East Africa, Kenya and Ethiopia, with respect to imports of staple agricultural goods. The extent to which regional integration has influenced agricultural trade is examined by calculating the amount of inter-regional trade of staple agricultural goods comparative to trade outside of East Africa and comparing the change over two periods of... (More)
- Regional integration on the African continent has been promoted for decades as a means to sustained economic development in Africa, with multiple agreements on the continent to stimulate such integration. Many countries are members of these regional integration organizations on the basis of increasing intra-regional trade and cooperation. This study is a comparative analysis between two countries within East Africa, Kenya and Ethiopia, with respect to imports of staple agricultural goods. The extent to which regional integration has influenced agricultural trade is examined by calculating the amount of inter-regional trade of staple agricultural goods comparative to trade outside of East Africa and comparing the change over two periods of time. Although theory and rhetoric by international
organizations and individual governments would suggest a high amount of regional trade, it appears that the majority of staple crops in Ethiopia and Kenya are still imported outside of both the East African region as well as the African continent and instead from developed countries due to their more competitive pricing. There is then little incentive for agricultural intra-regional trade so long as staple goods can be imported from outside of the continent for a cheaper price. In this respect, it cannot be asserted that regional integration has so far contributed towards creating higher intra-African agricultural trade. In light of this, barriers to integration must be addressed, and further development of the agricultural sector is necessary in order to increase productivity and offer competitive prices. Regional integration without meaningfully addressing this makes little economic sense. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9054093
- author
- Bailey, Amanda LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- EKHS22 20211
- year
- 2020
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- language
- English
- additional info
- This thesis is from 2020
- id
- 9054093
- date added to LUP
- 2021-06-24 13:10:57
- date last changed
- 2021-06-24 13:11:31
@misc{9054093,
abstract = {{Regional integration on the African continent has been promoted for decades as a means to sustained economic development in Africa, with multiple agreements on the continent to stimulate such integration. Many countries are members of these regional integration organizations on the basis of increasing intra-regional trade and cooperation. This study is a comparative analysis between two countries within East Africa, Kenya and Ethiopia, with respect to imports of staple agricultural goods. The extent to which regional integration has influenced agricultural trade is examined by calculating the amount of inter-regional trade of staple agricultural goods comparative to trade outside of East Africa and comparing the change over two periods of time. Although theory and rhetoric by international
organizations and individual governments would suggest a high amount of regional trade, it appears that the majority of staple crops in Ethiopia and Kenya are still imported outside of both the East African region as well as the African continent and instead from developed countries due to their more competitive pricing. There is then little incentive for agricultural intra-regional trade so long as staple goods can be imported from outside of the continent for a cheaper price. In this respect, it cannot be asserted that regional integration has so far contributed towards creating higher intra-African agricultural trade. In light of this, barriers to integration must be addressed, and further development of the agricultural sector is necessary in order to increase productivity and offer competitive prices. Regional integration without meaningfully addressing this makes little economic sense.}},
author = {{Bailey, Amanda}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Regional Integration and Agricultural Trade in East Africa: A Comparative Analysis of Ethiopia and Kenya}},
year = {{2020}},
}