Why Did the Chicken Cross the Border? An Investigation of Government Responses to Import Surges in Senegal, Cameroon and Ghana
Over the last twenty-two years as more developing countries have lowered trade barriers and liberalized their economies, they have experienced a rising number of import surges, primarily in food commodities. The rapid, dramatic increase in the importation of specific food commodities has potentially negative effects on domestic markets and food producers. This paper explores how governments have differed in their response to food commodity import surges. It examines the case of poultry import surges in West Africa. Since 1984, developing countries have experienced close to 700 cases of poultry import surges, a rapid rise in the importation of frozen chicken legs and thighs. Fifty percent of these surges have occurred in Africa, and twenty five percent in West Africa. Poultry surges have dramatically undermined domestic poultry production. As a result, domestic producers have demanded that their governments respond with stricter trade policies. This study employs data gathered from newspaper coverage, policy papers and a small number of interviews with poultry producers and experts in Senegal to investigate how the Cameroonian, Senegalese and Ghanaian governments have responded to the flood of poultry imports between 1999 and 2008 and consequent producer demands. The main finding of the paper is that producer associations’ strategies, particularly whether they work first to change consumer opinions before focusing on political lobbying, and the degree of trade dependence of in a country are the primary determinants of how a government will respond to demands for stricter trade policies