It was recognised that, given the nature of borders between most countries, attempts to control illegal trade were largely futile and that the problem was best addressed by removing the reasons for such trade to be carried out illegally. The Workshop was informed about a Canadian International Development Agency study on sub-regional food trade, carried out in 1996, and about a planned study to be carried out with Dutch funding in early 1998. Participants expressed great interest in the proposed study and requested that they be kept informed of the outcome. It noted that reducing the costs of transporting food to particular areas would represent an additional contribution to improving sub-regional food security. In emphasising the importance of food trade development, the Workshop nevertheless noted that there were many problems to be overcome if sub-regional trade were to be a success.
Trade is constrained by poor road and rail infrastructure in much of the sub-region.
Government policies, and their implementation by officials such as customs officers, were often confused and contradictory, with the result that the private sector was sometimes reluctant to trade. Lack of finance also represented a major problem. Recognising the legitimate concern of all governments to guarantee the food security of their populations, participants nevertheless felt that this would be best achieved through free trade, combined with production increases, rather than through continued government involvement in food imports, the arbitrary imposition of export controls and other restrictive measures. Participants felt that commercial trade should make a major contribution to overcoming the likely negative El Nino effect in the southern part of the region. Participants noted that countries of the sub region had reached different stages in the liberalisation of domestic food markets.