COSBAE Track Sessions

The recent global financial crisis has buffeted many Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries through declining terms of trade, reduced demand for exports, falling foreign direct investment (FDI), remittances from workers abroad and aid flows, reduced access to global financial markets, and access to trade credits. To restore their economic potentials and bring their economies on high growth paths, SSA countries have been undertaking structural reforms to enhance competition in the financial sector, streamlining labor market regulations, and enhancing economic diversifications through ongoing processes of regional integration. The recent upsurge in commodity prices provides additional opportunities for the leading producers to expand trade. The session will explore the implications arising from market expansion in attracting FDI and enhancing trade to SSA.

The aim of this session is to acquaint participants with the changing dynamics of agriculture in the Caribbean region as efforts are made to reposition the sector to address problems such as high food import bill, massive unemployment in the sector and loss of foreign exchange resulting from the loss of preferential access and increasing uncertainty in the EU markets. Among other things, the discussion will center on critically assessing some of the strategies currently being employed or contemplated to address the aforementioned problems including examining the potential tradeoffs resulting from attempts to satisfy local food demands versus reorganizing production to exploit new opportunities arising in the USA for imported food commodities.

Rural enterprise face several constraints that make it more difficult for them to succeed than many of their urban counterparts. This session will discuss obstacles faced by rural / limited resource businesses and will highlight avenues for them to deal with these issues. The session will cover three main areas that often hinder business success: management and operations; finance options; and communication/marketing. The goal is to present researchers and extension educators with the latest knowledge on overcoming these obstacles and to encourage further research in this area.