Trade, agri departments eye single agribusiness roadmap

The Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Agriculture have agreed to integrate their respective agencies’ roadmaps for the agribusiness industry, as a unified blueprint will enable the government to address the challenges faced by the sector.

At present, the two agencies have their own versions of industry roadmaps for the agribusiness sectors and its various sub-sectors, such as coffee, cacao, rubber, processed foods/resource-based sectors such as tablea, carrageenan, processed meat, processed shrimp, dried mangoes, condiments, processed fruits and nuts industry, and coco coir industry.

A recent workshop has thus sought to harmonize and merge the industry roadmaps and have a unified blueprint for the growth and development of the agribusiness industry.

An industry roadmap would assess an industry’s performance, opportunities, and challenges; outline the vision, goals and objectives, strategies, and timelines, and identify the various interventions that a sector would need to be globally competitive.

Industry roadmaps formed part of a bigger Comprehensive National Industrial Strategy (CNIS), a new industrial policy seen to enhance the competitiveness and promotion of domestic industries by linking and integrating manufacturing, agriculture and services, addressing supply chain gaps and deepening industry participation in global value chains.