Products Mapping' and Agri-Food Trade between Nigeria and ECOWAS Member Countries

Abstract

Intra-ECOWAS trade and food evxports have been debated and given attention in recent years. The paper uses an analytical tool, called ‘products mapping’ following some methods, such as trade balance index, Balassa index and Lafay index to analyse comparative advantages in all 46 food items (SITC 0 + 1 + 22 + 4) in trade between Nigeria and ECOWAS as well as the world. The findings suggest that Nigeria has performed better in trading with other ECOWAS countries than in trading with the overall world market. For Nigeria and the world, the findings reveal that the country’s comparative advantages reduced from 12 out of 46 (12/46) in 1995 to 8/46 food products in 2017. The notable products that reveal comparative advantages and positive TBI are cocoa (SITC 072), crustaceans (SITC 036), fruits and nuts (SITC 057); and oil seeds and oleaginous fruits (SITC 222). Contrary to Nigeria’s trade with the world, the results suggest that the country’s comparative advantages in trading with ECOWAS countries rose from 19/46 in 1995 to 26/46 food products in 2017. The notable products that show comparative advantages and positive TBI are tobacco, edible products, maize and wheat. Inversely, food products with comparative disadvantage and adverse TBI, slightly reduced from 18/46 in 1995 to 17/46 in 2017. The findings further suggest that the structure of Nigeria’s food trade with ECOWAS has started involving and improving, albeit at a slow pace. There is an urgent need to stimulate domestic food production and food processing industries for domestic consumption and exports. Regional and national agricultural policies should be dramatically implemented for self-sufficiency and more comparative advantages and the number of positive TBI to be ensured and sustained.

Relative export competitiveness of the Nigerian cocoa industry

“…Cocoa farming is significantly affected by insect pests and diseases, climate change, aging cocoa trees and herders-farmers’ crisis (Famuyiwa et al , 2014; Zdráhal et al , 2019). Most importantly, the farming activity is influenced by the oil boom that formed the major portion of the deteriorating agricultural activities in Nigeria (Olaitan et al , 2019; Verter and Bečvářová, 2016).…”

Determinants and Potential of Agri-Food Trade Using the Stochastic Frontier Gravity Model: Empirical Evidence From Nigeria

“…Nigeria’s agri-food sector is one of the primary sectors of the economy (Abdullahi, Zhang et al, 2021; Zdráhal et al, 2019). A close look at Figure 1 shows that the portion of agricultural revenues in Nigeria’s GDP slightly decreases from 25.49% in 1995 to 21.91% in 2019, however, the sector contributed the highest (36.97%) share in 2002.…”

‘Products Mapping’ of South Africa’s Agri-food trade with the EU28 and Africa

“…There are also empirical studies in agri-food trade (Ishchukova and Smutka, 2014;Benesova et al, 2017;Esquivias, 2017;Ortikov et al, 2019, Zdráhal et al, 2019Verter et al, 2020) that employ the Product mapping technique to analyze both comparative advantage and global competitiveness and its implications for domestic agri-food trade-balance creation. The composition of trade structure developed from Product Mapping and its trajectory give other important insights regarding the country's integration into the global or regional agribusiness.…”

“…On the other hand, the comparative advantages in relation to other territories are limited. Zdráhal et al (2019) use products mapping to analyse agri-food trade between Nigeria and ECOWAS member countries. The findings suggest that Nigeria has performed better in trading with other ECOWAS countries than in trading with the overall world market and the product mapping revealed some of the promising product groups for expansion within the region and potential for Nigeria to diversify its agri-food export structure.…”