The Director of the Presidential Initiative on Agriculture and Agribusiness at the Presidency, Dr. Peter Boamah Otukunor, has had a fair share of the difficulties businesses and goods pass through in crossing borders in West Africa, hence a solemn call for reforms.
What was meant to be a seamless cross-border trip for Cote d’Ivoire took Dr. Peter Boamah Otokunor four “good” hours.
The government official recounted his painful experience at the EU-Africa Chamber of Commerce event on Financing Agribusiness in Africa held in Abidjan.
This, he says, shows the very structural inefficiencies and the bureaucracies at the various borders despite the promises of AfCFTA to ensure the easy and free flow of humans and goods.
“I spent over four hours at the border,” he recounted, visibly frustrated, as he addressed the gathering.
“If a government official has to endure such hurdles, how do we expect our farmers and agribusinesses to trade efficiently across borders, yet we have the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which aims to create a single market for goods and services across the continent,” he further narrated.
In his view, his experience at the Ghana-Cote d’Ivoire border exposes a larger crisis in African integration.
It shows a disconnect between the political rhetoric of “one Africa” and the everyday reality of red tape, border checks, and policy inconsistencies that stifle the very spirit of AfCFTA.
He cannot fathom how agriculture and agribusiness across the continent will thrive amid such huge red tape and bureaucracy threatening regional integration.
“Agriculture in Africa cannot thrive without a robust sub-regional integration framework. We speak of Africa as one bloc, yet the reality is that we are divided by borders, bureaucracy, and policies that stifle collaboration,” he lamented.
According to Dr. Otokunor, Africa’s agricultural future depends on more than just financing. It demands bold action to remove non-tariff barriers and ease mobility for goods, people, and services, especially in agriculture, where value chains stretch across borders and rely heavily on timely logistics.
He called for new policy instruments to empower farmers, agribusiness practitioners, and cooperatives to function across borders without being stifled by bureaucracy.
“We must design instruments that facilitate the formation of cooperatives and cross-border partnerships. Without that, we will keep discussing agriculture as potential, never as impact within our beloved continent,” he strongly proposed.
The presidential staffer says if senior public officials are stuck for hours at border posts, then people paying the highest price are Africa’s farmers, traders, and small agribusinesses whose success depends on movement, hence the need for drastic reforms.
