The World Trade Organization’s legal framework and Africa’s food security

This chapter was contributed to How Africa Eats: Trade, Food Security and Climate Risks, a data-led volume published by LSE Press examining why Africa struggles with food security despite its vast agricultural potential, and how trade agreements, climate change, and policy frameworks interact to shape the continent’s food systems. The chapter undertakes an assessment of the WTO legal framework in relation to food security in Africa, examining both what the existing multilateral trading system offers and where it falls short in supporting Africa’s food security objectives.

The chapter opens by positing an often-overlooked paradox: the contradictory role that food security plays in international trade. Countries with the means to subsidise production provide food not only for domestic consumption but also for trading in open markets or for giving away as food aid — enhancing global food availability but disincentivising production in poorer and net food-importing countries. Much of the work on food and agriculture in the multilateral trading system is aimed at resolving this conundrum.

After framing the paradox, the chapter reviews the main WTO agreements that impact food security, beginning with the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA). Key provisions on domestic support, public stockholding of food supplies, the special safeguard mechanism, and export restrictions receive particular attention. On the last of these, the chapter examines the measures taken by WTO members in the context of the food crises that followed the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The chapter then addresses the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement, the Fisheries Subsidies Agreement, and provisions relating to technology transfer from a food security perspective. In each case, it highlights relevant WTO rules and ongoing initiatives, with a particular focus on reform proposals that could be advanced by the WTO African Group.

Finally, in keeping with the book’s focus on the interrelationship between food trade, food security, and climate, the chapter reviews environmental initiatives at the WTO — including the Trade and Environmental Sustainability Structured Discussions (TESSD) — examining their implications for African countries’ food security objectives.

The full volume How Africa Eats: Trade, Food Security and Climate Risks is available open access via LSE Press here.