New USAID Trade Hub set up in Botswana

Drawing on the World Bank Group’s (WBG) experience in supporting agricultural growth, a new trade and investment hub funded by United States Agency for International Development, the USAID Southern Africa Trade and Investment Hub has generated a project that works throughout the region to improve the livelihoods of Southern Africans. 
The project is expected to increase access to trade and broadening investment. The previous version of the Southern Africa Trade Hub made many contributions on behalf of the US Government to develop growth sectors, including agribusiness, food processing, textiles and apparel, and infrastructure in Botswana and the entire SADC region. 
According to the World Bank report agribusiness should be at the top of the agenda for much of Africa as the favorable market outlook on both the demand and supply side provides a unique window of opportunity for many countries. 
Further the WBG report s agricultural production and agribusiness together constitute an average of around 45 percent of the economy of Sub-Saharan Africa. In Sub-Saharan African countries, the share of agribusiness (including logistics and retail) in gross domestic product (GDP) is typically around 20 percent, while the share of agricultural production is around 24 percent for low-income countries, although only a part of production is commercialized. Meanwhile the role of agribusiness increases with rising incomes. Globally, agribusiness is about 78 percent of value added in the agricultural value chain but this share varies widely across income levels.
Agricultural value chains in Africa are mostly made up of micro, small, and medium enterprises. That is participants in a value chain may consist of micro-enterprises, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and semi industrial and industrial enterprises distinguished not only by size but by their sources of labor, capital intensity, and the type of market they reach.