The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted governments across the world to introduce unprecedented lockdowns and other restrictions on mobility to slow the spread of coronavirus and to avoid overwhelming healthcare systems.

The Africa Agriculture Trade Monitor (AATM) was launched in 2018 as an annual report monitoring the continent’s progress in agricultural trade development.

This first chapter provides an overview of recent issues related to agricultural trade in Africa. Hence, the next section explains how the unprecedented shock of COVID-19 has had a major impact on trade and food security in Africa.

This chapter reviews efforts to estimate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on agricultural trade, economic activity, and poverty in Africa, in view of the critical role that agricultural trade plays for millions of poor people.

[This] chapter has several objectives. First, we examine the main trade flows (by product and by destination and origin markets) for the three product groups of interest, with some focus on informal trade.

Combining analyses at the aggregate and sectoral levels offers the richest perspective for understanding Africa’s place in global agricultural trade.

[This] chapter has three objectives. First, it analyses the composition and structure of export flows from the AMU countries, by product and by partner, with a special focus on agricultural products (including agrifood products).

African countries have diversified both their exports and trade partners over the last decade, African agricultural trade still suffers from structural problems as well as exogenous shocks.

In this chapter, we explore how policies, programs, and regulations related to seed and genetic resources are evolving across Africa, and whether these changes have the potential to improve farmers’ access to improved cultivars and quality seed.

The objective of this chapter is to respond to the question: what can trade policy do for the competitiveness of African agriculture?

This chapter highlights the emerging areas of market failure associated with agricultural mechanization and how SSA governments, including the Ghanaian government, have adapted their strategies over the years in attempting to overcome these market

The intent of this chapter is, first, to review how these components of political economy analysis have affected past agricultural policy decisions and, then, to highlight key points for building a broader empirical research agenda around agrifood

In response to the low adoption of improved inputs, African governments have pursued various fertilizer promotion policies and programs.