Food safety and agricultural health standards: challenges and opportunities for developing country exports

The report summarises the findings of a World Bank research program on sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, which was designed to improve understanding of an emerging set of policy and commercial issues in the area of food safety and agricultural health.Key findings presented in the report include:developing countries facing the challenges of rising health and food safety standards can maintain and even improve market access as well as position their industries for long-term competitiveness by adopting a strategic approach to food safety, agricultural health and trade there are some cases of protectionist use of standards, yet most of the diversity in standards stems from other factors by providing additional assistance, rich countries would help level the playing field and especially help poor countries to better prepare for evolving standards growing demand for differentiated products from increasingly sophisticated consumers, will provide continuing opportunities for competitive suppliers of high-value foods by allowing them to target market segment that suit their competitive profile contrary to conventional wisdom, compliance costs for developing countries are relatively modest and present a worthwhile investment in relation to trade levels and the overall costs of production and marketing some of the benefits of investment are, however, intangible and many benefits accrue only over time incumbent countries and suppliers have a considerable advantage over new entrants there is an acute need for a strategic approach to capacity-building related to standardsThe study finds that the best way for developing countries to meet the challenge of rising health and food safety standards and to even profit from it, is to take a proactive approach to compliance. To facilitate such an approach the study makes the following recommendations: rich countries and pertinent technical agencies should increase and re-orient flows to developing countries for SPS capacity-building industrial country governments should harmonise SPS product and process requirements with those of other countries , where there is an identified benefit of doing so in order to reduce costs and ensure its own sources of supply, the private sector in industrial countries should harmonise or mutually benchmark the growing array of overlapping and competing private protocols on good agricultural and manufacturing process standards developing country governments should move beyond control functions to emphasise awareness-building on quality/SPS management and facilitating individual or collective actions which can be taken by private companies, farmers, and others the World Bank should include policy advice and investment lending pertaining to SPS management and market access in the Bank’s wider operational programme, especially in relation to the promotion of agricultural competitiveness, smallholder commercialisation, civil service reform, and trade and regional integration.