Agricultural Trade Restrictions in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence and Policy Dialogue Insights

Agricultural trade restrictions continue to significantly influence food systems, market prices, and livelihoods across Sub-Saharan Africa. Emerging evidence from multiple countries now highlights the urgency of addressing these barriers to strengthen regional food security and economic resilience.

The Africa Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes (ANAPRI), a consortium of policy think tanks operating across the region, has been actively engaging stakeholders through evidence-based dialogue. Through its member centres, ANAPRI convened six in-country policy dialogues in Ghana, Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

These dialogues focused on cross-border trade barriers and their implications for regional trade agreements. They brought together policymakers, private sector representatives, and researchers, generating critical insights into how trade restrictions affect agricultural markets, food availability, and livelihoods.

Building on these findings, ANAPRI, in partnership with AGRA, will host a regional webinar to present a consolidated synthesis of the evidence and advance discussions on policy solutions.

Webinar Details

• Date: 13 May 2026
• Time: 2:00–3:30 PM CAT
• Platform: Zoom
• Social Media: https://www.linkedin.com/company/anapri_info/posts/?feedView=all

This webinar brings stakeholders together to shape stronger, more resilient, and integrated food systems across Sub-Saharan Africa.

👉 Register here: https://lnkd.in/e77K2iag

Tegemeo Institute, Egerton University holds an end-of-project outreach and dissemination workshop on ‘Impact of Agro-weather Advisories on Productivity and

Resilience in Farming Communities in Kenya’.

Weather variability and climate change have attenuated farmers’ ability to make good farming decisions. Programs that seek to increase farmers’ access to farming-related advice that is based on weather realities are likely to increase farm productivity and farm households’ resilience to weather-related shocks. Rarely do we interrogate questions on whether such weather-based advisories cause the hypothesized outcomes.

Tegemeo Institute of Egerton University received a grant from USAID’s Feed the Future (FtF), through an initiative of the Markets, Risk and Resilience Innovation

Lab (MRR IL) of the University of California, Davis, USA, and the International Centre for Evaluation and Development (ICED). The initiative is aimed at Advancing Local Leadership, Innovation and Networks (ALL-IN) in African research institutions. The grant supported a project on ‘The Impact of Digital Agro-weather Advisories on Productivity and Resilience in Pastoral and Farming Communities in Kenya’. This study targeted farmers who were beneficiaries of the Government of Kenya/World Bank’s (GOK/WB) Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Project (KCSAP).

Tegemeo Institute will hold an end-of-project outreach and dissemination workshop after the successful completion of the project. This event will be held in Nakuru

on 9th December 2024. The objectives of the workshop are to: i) present study findings and receive feedback from participants; ii) facilitate a dialogue and provide a forum

for an exchange of perspectives on the findings and other aspects of the project; and iii) discuss the value of impact studies in the agriculture sector. Participants will be drawn from the government (national and county level), the private sector, farming communities and farmer associations, development agencies, research organizations and providers of climate information services.

1.  Event Program

Download End of Project Outreach and Dissemination Stakeholder Workshop    

2. Policy Briefs 

Willingness to Pay for Agro-Weather Messages Among Kenyan Farmers

Authors:Dr. Mercy Kamau, John Mburu, Prof. Bradford Mills and Dr. Lilian Kirimi

About MRR and ALL-IN Initiative Handout 

3. Other Artefacts

The value of rigorous evidence for effective development programming Youtube clip.

 Maximizing impact is not just about investing resources—it’s about investing wisely. This compelling discussion brings together leading voices in development and innovation to explore how evidence-based approaches can transform well-intentioned efforts into real-world success stories.

 Alexander Pfaff of Duke University highlights the need to critically evaluate what works and what does not to ensure that resources are directed toward strategies with proven impact. He underscores the need for humility within public institutions to allow for learning about what works and what does not.

 Mercy Kamau, a Senior Research Fellow and a development evaluation expert from Tegemeo Institute, brings focus  to agriculture, emphasizing rigorous impact evaluations to ensure public spending delivers measurable benefits, citing investments in fertilizer subsidy and irrigation as examples where rigorous impact evaluation would provide evidence to support decisions to either 'STOP or Go'.

Tara Chiu of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Markets, Risk and Resillience advocates building on existing evidence rather than starting from scratch. She emphasizes on the importance of cost-effective programs grounded in what works while continuously measuring and refining strategies for greater impacts.

The experts call for a shift towards smarter, evidence-driven decision making, one that turns innovation into powerful tools for positive change.

                                Watch this clip above to learn how we can make every investment count.