Agricultural exports have been transformed in recent decades, moving away from bulk crops to focus more on processed food products and horticultural products. Worldwide, the share of bulk agricultural products in total agricultural exports fell from 25 percent to 17 percent between 1988 and 2014; during that same period, exports of horticultural products rose to 12 percent and exports of processed food products reached almost 75 percent. In Africa south of the Sahara, the share of bulk goods in agricultural exports has also declined, from 60 to 42 percent, while the share of processed agricultural goods rose to 35 percent, as against 75 percent for the world. However, the transformation of agricultural exports proceeded more rapidly in Africa than elsewhere in horticultural products, which accounted for 22 percent of African exports in 2014.
In this Discussion Paper, IFPRI Senior Research Fellow Will Martin and World Bank Economist Emiko Fukase examine different policies that could help African countries speed up growth in exports of higher value products, such as horticultural crops and processed foods.
