MCDA Final Report Malawi - Standards and Trade Development ...

One of the initial applications was in Malawi, which is the focus of this report. Despite the fact that
various assessments of the SPS situation and capacity-building needs have been undertaken in Malawi,
there remains a lack of coherence in the establishment of priorities. Thus, many of the existing
assessments, whilst identifying a plethora of weaknesses in capacity, generate a virtual ‘shopping list’ of
needs that evidently outstrip available resources. Further, many of these needs are rather general in
their focus, with insufficient attention given to the benefits that will flow from specific investments in
SPS capacity relative to the costs involved. Therefore, it is not surprising that Malawi lacks a coherent
and prioritised plan for the enhancement of SPS capacity that might guide government, donor and/or
private sector investments. The analysis presented below aims to inform the development of such a
plan.
This report starts by providing an overview of the agricultural policy environment followed by trade and
trade support in SPS sensitive goods and related challenges in Malawi. The priority-setting framework
and related methods are then briefly described. The report then proceeds to lay out the SPS capacitybuilding
needs identified in the analysis and that enter the priority-setting exercise. The results of the
analysis are then reported, followed by an assessment of the implications for SPS capacity-building in
Malawi in the medium term.
2. Overview of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) situation in Malawi
2.1. Prior reviews of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) requirements and capacity building in
Malawi
There are a number of tools and approaches for assessing the status of SPS capacity, the main ones of
which are listed in Table 1. In terms of SPS-specific toolkits, the following have been applied in Malawi:
The World Organization of Animal Health’s (OIE) Performance, Vision and Strategy (PVS) and
PVS Gap Analysis for animal health capacity have been applied. It is reported that these have
been authorised for public release 12 but are not yet available on the OIE website/database 13
The International Plant Protection Convention’s (IPPC) Phytosanitary Capacity Evaluation (PCE)
of plant health capacity was completed in 2009 by the University of Pretoria 14
A National Biosecurity Capacity Assessment was carried out by the Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO) in 2009, which reviewed food safety, plant and animal health. 15
Further, national agricultural strategy documents, referred to as Comprehensive African Agriculture
Development Programme (CAADP) compacts, are published by African Union (AU) countries. Since
enhanced trade in agricultural products is one deliverable of the Regional Economic Communities within
the AU, there is typically a significant trade promotion component to national CAADP Compacts. In the
case of Malawi, a national CAADP Compact has been developed, known as the Agriculture Sector Wide
Approach (ASWAp).
A Trade Policy Review for Malawi has recently been completed by the WTO. 16 The review contains,
among other constituents a general overview of SPS requirements and issues focusing on legislative and
institutional arrangements. In general, the arrangements as of 2010 are considered by the WTO report
as being outdated.
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