Reviewing Agricultural Trade Policies
To Promote Intra-OIC Agricultural Trade
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previous research outputs on the quality and availability of agricultural statistics in the OIC.
Even though the OIC has a subsidiary organ (SESRIC) that collects and disseminates several
types of economic and social statistics including those related to agriculture and trade, the trade
policy measures for recent years and for numerous countries are not easily accessed through
international databases. The situation is especially worrisome for NTMs and for most countries
from the African group. The main weaknesses regarding agricultural statistics capacity in the
OIC have been identified as “poor organization, lack of resources and scope of statistics” by
COMCEC (2014: 144), and it is of prime significance for future researches to collect and
disseminate the most recent agricultural trade policy statistics.
In the case of NTMs, drawing strong conclusions about whether these generally act as barriers
against intra-OIC agricultural trade is somewhat difficult because of these severe data
limitations. However, since “Live animals” and “Meat” are the potential product divisions that
currently face lower tariff protection in the OIC markets, a systematic reconfiguration of NTMs
(especially the SPS measures) for these product categories may greatly contribute to the
promotion of intra-OIC trade in these product divisions.
Centrally related with the SPS measures (and with other NTMs that may be acting as barriers
for potential product divisions and products) are the issues of standardization, certification, and
accreditation. More specifically, Halal certification for which some prior effort has been put
forward by the SMIIC is a critical dimension of agricultural trade policy for the OIC. In recent
years, SMIIC has compiled three sets of guidelines that establish the OIC standards for (i) Halal
product producers, (ii) agencies that grant Halal certifications to producers, and (iii)
accreditation bodies that accreditate certification agencies, respectively. It should also be noted
that there is increased awareness and interest in Halal certification among the OIC member
countries.
Survey results reflect the views of 46 specialists from 21 OIC countries working at relevant
ministries, government units, universities, NGOs, and the private sector. Agricultural trade and
food security are seen as very important by a large majority of these respondents. Three factors
are emphasized more by the survey participants as among the ones adversely affecting
agricultural trade flows. These are the very poor status of marketing knowledge and
information, the very poor status of financial resources, and the very poor status of technical
adaptability of producers. The standardization of the products is also seen as a problem area.
Both the marketing boards and the SOEs are expected to play major roles in trade facilitation in
the future by the participants from the countries that currently have these types of institutions.
In the case of agricultural cooperatives, their role in easing the producers’ access to information
and finance is emphasized by a vast majority of participants.
Survey participants’ views reaffirm the existing agricultural trade networks within the OIC (e.g.,
Turkey’s and Saudi Arabia’s roles as export and import hubs, respectively) and the existing
agricultural trade relationships with major non-OIC partners such Russia, EU, and China.
Furthermore, these current relationships are expected to be strong in the near future.