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Reviewing Agricultural Trade Policies

To Promote Intra-OIC Agricultural Trade

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to revise the agricultural trade policies. Specifically, trade policies promoting intra-OIC trade

could contribute to the welfare of the Chad population, decreasing the costs of imports to the

country while increasing the chance of agricultural producers in reaching the export markets.

For the other African case study, the Gambia, the share of agricultural population is lower than

that of Chad. In Gambia, a lower percentage of population depend on agricultural sector for

livelihoods, yet the share of agricultural products in total exports is high, however with

fluctuating percentage shares across the years. The Gambia faces high tariff rates for their top

five export products in agriculture from their top five OIC importers. Reduction of tariffs in the

OIC markets would enable the Gambia to increase its exports, thus contributing to the welfare

of the country.

The share of agricultural exports is relatively lower in Turkey andMoroccowhen comparedwith

the other two OIC case countries. Both in Turkey and in Morocco, the agricultural sector’s share

is relatively smaller than the African case study countries. In Turkey, tariffs in agriculture are

typically larger than tariffs in non-agricultural sectors. The usual case of tariffs in agriculture

being larger than tariffs in non-agricultural sectors is also observed for Morocco.

Smaller shares of agriculture in GDP in Turkey, Morocco and the Gambia are indications that

there is a room for growth in services (such as tourism in the Gambia) and industry (such as

agri-food industry in Morocco and Turkey). Promotion of agricultural production and intra-OIC

trade of agricultural products for use as inputs in the value chains of the services and industry

can be a policy alternative in Morocco and Turkey in order to create high value added products.

Agri-food industry and tourism offer a wide range of possibilities for the use of agricultural

inputs and these agricultural inputs (rawmaterials) can be supplied from the OICmarkets. More

emphasis could be given to integrate agricultural products into the value chains of agri-food

industry and tourism, thereby creating new potential to use a variety of agricultural inputs from

the OIC countries, providing possibilities to create innovative and high value added products.

The high value products can have inputs supplied from a wide variety of OIC markets

representing a diverse set of alternative possibilities.

With regards to the cases of non-OIC countries (Thailand and Brazil), it is observed that the

share of agriculture in GDP is generally lower than the OIC sample cases, with the exception of

Turkey. The share of agricultural employment is lowest in Brazil while the share of agricultural

exports is high. In Thailand, the export share of agriculture is lower than the OIC cases, again

with the exception of Turkey and Chad. A world leader in the production of sugar, coffee, and

orange juice, Brazil is the largest agricultural exporter in South America, and among the largest

agricultural exporters in the world. Thailand is a large exporter with a surplus both in its overall

trade and in agriculture.

Top agricultural export and import products in the OIC market

The case study countries differ with regards to their top export and import products in the OIC

agricultural markets. In Section 3.4 of this report, five potential product divisions for promoting

intra-OIC trade were selected. These products are live animals, meat, sugar, feeding stuff for

animals and oil seeds. It is possible to observe these products among the top export items of the

case study countries. For example, feeding stuff for animals and sugar for Morocco; feeding stuff

for animals for the Gambia; oil seeds, feeding stuff for animals and live animals for Chad; sugar

for Thailand; and sugar, meat and feeding stuff for animals for Brazil are among the top export

items for the OIC market. Turkey is the only case study that does not include any of the selected

potential product divisions among her top export products in the OIC market.