Lengthy border procedures and weak transport infrastructure are preventing Africa from fully capitalizing on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), with import and export processes taking up to four days in many countries, according to new research published by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).
The study found that cumbersome customs procedures and inadequate transport networks continue to raise the cost of trading agricultural products across the continent, limiting the growth of intra-African food trade even as governments push to deepen regional integration under the AfCFTA. Trade procedures in Africa can take three to four days to complete, compared with about one day in Latin America and the Caribbean and roughly 11 hours in Europe and Central Asia.
In season 2 of the AfCFTA Podcast, Demitta Gyang, head of AfCFTA’s customs cooperation, trade facilitation, and transit, said field assessments of major trade corridors revealed deeper structural challenges. These include inadequate border infrastructure, non-interoperable IT systems and limited coordination among customs, immigration, standards and veterinary agencies. Gyang also cited human capacity gaps at border posts, where awareness of AfCFTA rules remains inconsistent, limiting effective implementation of preferential trade provisions.
The research, based on data from 41 African countries between 2007 and 2020, urges that reducing delays at borders through faster customs clearance, fewer documentation requirements and improved transport infrastructure would significantly increase agricultural trade across the continent.
Africa’s agricultural trade has come under increasing pressure in recent years as the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, climate change and export restrictions disrupted global food supply chains and heightened food insecurity. Despite agriculture’s importance to African economies, intra-African agri-food trade still accounts for only about 20% of the continent’s agricultural exports and about 15% of imports. Africa also has the world’s highest proportion of hungry people, at 21%, with about 282 million people undernourished.
The paper argues that infrastructure investments alone will not unlock the full benefits of the AfCFTA unless governments also modernize customs systems, harmonize trade procedures and eliminate non-tariff barriers. It found that countries achieve the strongest gains when physical infrastructure improvements are combined with more efficient border management and stronger regulatory environments.
The authors recommend that African governments accelerate the construction of regional transport corridors while simplifying customs procedures and fast-tracking implementation of the AfCFTA’s Boosting Intra-African Trade framework. They say coordinated reforms would lower trade costs, strengthen food security and help integrate African agriculture into regional and global value chains.
