The African tropical market presents a unique blend of historical legacies, current economic activities, and future potential. This article delves into the characteristics of this market, covering aspects from agricultural marketing boards to the impact of climate and trade dynamics.
Map of Africa, highlighting the diverse regions and climates that influence its markets.
Historical Context of Agricultural Marketing Boards
Agricultural marketing boards in tropical Africa are heirlooms of the Great Depression and World War II, when colonial governments found their principal sources of revenue severely reduced and both European and African populations financially distressed.
Marketing boards are of British origin, but similar efforts were made in French and Belgian Africa.
The rationale for intervention is clouded; some of the principal reasons have faded into the past or were never openly expressed.
Read also: Diverse African Foods
With changing demographic and political characteristics, the traditional solution whereby the hungry move to food supplies, rather than vice versa, became more and more unsatisfactory, albeit still pursued on occasion.
Internal and External Trade Dynamics
Internal Trade
Internal trade within Africa frequently understates the amount of trade-partly because of the lack of adequate statistics and partly because of the high rate of smuggling, which allows a substantial amount of traditional border trade to continue unrecorded.
Much of the intra-African trade consists of consumables-food, drinks, tobacco, sugar, cattle, and meat. The growth of industrialization in some countries, however, has been accompanied by an increase in the trade of durable and nondurable manufactured goods.
There has also been a large amount of re-export trade between the coastal and inland states, especially in machinery, transport equipment, and spare parts.
Common-currency and trade zones that have evolved through the granting of preferences or the operation of common currencies inherited from former colonial powers include:
Read also: Experience Fad's Fine African Cuisine
- the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC)
- the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
- the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)
- the East African Community
- the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
- the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA)
External Trade
Since the outbreak of World War II there has been a considerable expansion in Africa’s overall external trade.
The growth compares favorably with that of the other developing regions, such as Latin America.
The value of imports, however, has outweighed exports for some time, resulting in huge trade imbalances for most African countries.
The large expansion in African exports is generally attributed to the increase in the demand for primary commodities during World War II and in the immediate postwar reconstruction period.
Subsequently the attainment of independence by a large number of African countries, especially in the early 1960s, followed by a bid for economic development, strengthened the export-expansion drive.
Read also: The Story Behind Cachapas
Another reason for the rapid growth in African exports was the temporary increase in the price of primary commodities, although subsequently the general trend, except for petroleum, has been toward depressed commodity prices.
The persistence of this situation has been part of the reason the economies of many African countries have become crippled by huge foreign debts.
An important factor that influenced the growth of African exports was the discovery of petroleum in several countries, notably Libya, Algeria, Nigeria, Gabon, Angola, the Republic of the Congo, and Cameroon, and the dramatic price increases brought about by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in the 1970s.
Other factors include the discovery and the increased exploitation of minerals that are in high demand, such as diamonds-especially in Sierra Leone, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo-and the exploitation of other minerals, such as uranium ore.
Since achieving independence, many African countries have made attempts to diversify external trade relations. The record of achievement has been poor, however, because Africa’s trade patterns continued to reflect the influence of traditional links with the countries of western Europe.
Nonetheless, a significant export trade developed with the United States and Japan.
In most African states one or two primary commodities dominate the export trade.
The tremendous increase of Africa’s import trade has meant that the import bill of most African states has exceeded their export earnings; in consequence, many governments have established import restrictions or subsidized many of the required imports.
The bulk of imports comes from western Europe, especially countries of the European Union, with strong trade ties persisting along former colonial lines. There has, however, been a substantial increase in imports from the United States, Japan, and South Africa.
Imports are needed primarily to develop manufacturing industries and are, therefore, confined for the most part to mineral fuels, industrial goods, machinery, transport equipment, and durable consumer goods.
Key Sectors in the African Market
Agriculture
Africa, the second-largest continent, is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. It is divided in half almost equally by the Equator.
Climatic zones lie on either side of this line as if it were a mirror, with tropical wet climates closer to the Equator and more arid conditions closer to the north and south.
The climate exerts significant influence on Africa’s agriculture, which is the continent’s most important economic activity.
Agriculture employs about half of the continent’s working population, though the percentage of agricultural workers varies widely among individual countries.
Tropical conditions occur along the Equator, the Gulf of Guinea and the eastern Madagascar coast. Temperatures remain above 18°C (64.4°F) year-round.
This climate also has significant rainfall year-round, totaling 175-250 centimeters (69-94 inches). Important crops to Africa’s tropical wet regions include plantains, coffee, cocoa and oil palms.
Savanna conditions occur in much of Africa. Temperatures in the savanna are cooler and more varied than in tropical wet regions.
The savanna also receives less annual precipitation, with most of the rain falling during a relatively short rainy season. Important savanna crops include the cassava, peanuts, okra and eggplant.
Africa’s most important grain crops, millet and sorghum, are grown in the savanna.
Desert conditions occur in northern Africa, especially in the Sahara. The Sahel, also in northern Africa, is a semi-arid region that serves as a transition between the desert conditions of the Sahara and the wetter climates to the south.
Temperatures can range more than 38°C (100°F) on the hottest days to below freezing -4°C (25°F) on the coldest nights. Annual precipitation is around 7.5 centimeters (3 inches), though some areas go without rain for years.
Important desert crops include date palms, which grow in oases, and cotton, which grows in the Sahel and other semi-arid areas.
Mediterranean climate conditions occur along the northern coast of Africa and the southwestern tip of South Africa. The Mediterranean climate is characterized by mild temperatures, dry summers and moderately rainy winters.
Cabbage, tomatoes, oranges, olives and figs are all important crops in this area.
Highland conditions occur at the highest elevations of Africa, with the Ethiopian Highlands being one noteworthy area. Temperatures here are much colder than the surrounding lowlands.
Important highland crops include grains like wheat, a subsistence crop that makes up a high percentage of the local population’s diet.
Forestry
Forestry, the management of trees and other vegetation in forests, is an important economic activity in Africa. Forests cover around 21 percent of Africa’s land area, and globally, Africa is the continent with the third largest area dedicated to forests.
Most of the forests in Africa are located within the wet tropical climate band in countries like Gabon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Tanzania. In Cameroon, timber is exported to Europe and China, and forestry accounts for anywhere from 4 percent to 6 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).
Gabon is the top producer of processed wood in Africa, and the government is increasing production efforts with the goal of becoming the top producer of wood in the world.
Africa’s forest sector faces many challenges, however, including illegal logging. African nations lose an estimated $17 billion in revenue each year from illegal logging, and much of the wood is smuggled to China.
Another challenge is deforestation due to agricultural expansion; roughly 10 percent of Ghana’s trees were cleared for cocoa farming between 2001 and 2014.
One major issue limiting the protection of forests is a lack of government safeguards, with only 24 percent of Africa’s forests having sufficient management plans.
Despite these challenges, governments are taking steps to both help protect the forests and address economic concerns.
For instance, the Central African Forests Commission was created to regulate Africa’s forestry sector and promote sustainable uses of the Congo Basin’s rain forest products.
The commission created the Sangha Tri-National Landscape, a reserve that covers more than 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of rain forest in Cameroon, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Fishing
Africa’s fishing industry is valued at around $24 billion per year, accounting for around 1.3 percent of the continent’s GDP. Africa has fisheries on all of its marine coasts, as well as inland.
