Regional Trade and Competitiveness of Rwandan Agriculture: Empirical Analysis of Selected Priority Foodstuffs

This study aims at investigating the impact of regional integration on the agricultural trade development by focusing on wheat flour, maize grain, maize flour, potato, rice and soybean, fresh bean and dried beans sectors selected among priority foodstuffs in Rwanda. This is motivated by the lack of the studies comparing the competitive performance of all priority staple foods sub-sectors in Rwanda in the context of regional trade. The analysis used secondary data obtained through documentary reviews and those collected from the National Bank of Rwanda and FAOSTAT on imports and exports of Rwanda from 2007 to 2017. Apart from the literature review, the analysis was conducted using the Net Export Index (NEI) and the Grubel-Lloyd (GL) measure. The literature review and empirical results reveal that Rwanda benefited from its accession to regional and global trade blocks, especially in terms of the ease of access to external markets through the establishment of the Common Market, the Customs Union and the alleviation of some of trade barriers for basic foodstuffs and consumer goods. The analysis of the Net Export Index and the Grubel-Lloyd measures revealed that Rwanda can have a comparative advantage for wheat flour, fresh beans and dried beans at regional and global markets if measures aiming at developing a dynamic commercial network and improving agricultural value chains productivity are put forward.