FAO report shares successful country strategies on boosting agrifood trade

In our interconnected, globalized world, trade can provide consumers a wide variety of safe and quality food products while giving farmers and food producers a stable and growing source of income. For this reason, promotion of those food products with competitive advantages is high on government agendas everywhere.

To aid countries in this effort, FAO has published a report to identify the good practices in food promotion policy. Available in English and Russian, it features case studies from Austria, Brazil, Chile, Estonia, Poland and Serbia. The paper analyses several aspects of trade and marketing policies, including institutions, export promotion measures, financing opportunities for exporters and domestic food promotion measures.

“Countries respond to the call of food producers by participating proactively in global value chains, upscaling innovative practices and technologies and strengthening domestic food systems,” said Dmitry Zvyagintsev, FAO policy officer. “For this reason, it is vital to take stock of current examples of public institutions and their programmes designed to diversify exports.”

For Austria and Poland, regular analysis of the market situation was a key factor in their successful food promotion strategies. Analysis helps identify trends, allows for the formulation of strategies, and helps monitor the effectiveness of policies.

In Estonia, the development of exports was built on legislative and institutional framework and on governmental support for agrifood producers.

A successful export promotion strategy, as shown in the case of Chile, involves a number of components: a clearly defined and communicated programme, allocation of funds, wide attention to markets and sectors, and emphasis on the development of export capacities.

Based on the experience of Brazil, stronger coordination or centralization of efforts is needed to ensure better results in the promotion of agrifood products in the international trade arena.

“Policy that will support new dynamics and induce diversification of products and export markets may yield positive results,” said FAO economist Iryna Kobuta, “including improved sustainability of agrifood export dynamics in the long run.”

The report also offers recommendations on such topics as improving coordination; managing food product images; increasing dialogue among government institutions, consumers and producer groups; dedicating financial resources to research; marketing; and improving sanitary and phytosanitary standards measures, among other things.

Improving agrifood trade and market integration is a primary goal of FAO in Europe and Central Asia.

29 March 2019, Budapest, Hungary