The Hub works to substantially increase intra-regional and global trade of agricultural commodities directly contributing to economic growth and consequently to the attainment of Feed the Future outcomes. As part of the latter, the Hub’s activities under the Agriculture and Agribusiness component will contribute to increasing the access, availability and utilization of African-grown staple foods in regionally integrated markets. 

The Hub works across all East African Community (EAC) countries with the overall goal of doubling intra-regional trade in staple foods by the end of the project. To date, the Hub has supported an increase of 36 percent in value ($176 million) and 25 percent in volume (491 million kg.) of staple foods traded within the EAC and facilitated transactions worth more than $20.3 million. 

At the policy level, the Hub has supported the EAC Partner States to expedite the ratification of the EAC sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) Protocol, which Kenya ratified in June 2016. The Hub also supported the EAC Partner States to draft the revision of East African Standards of Staple Foods and the SPS bill, both expected to be enacted in 2017.The latter included developing the capacity of specialists from the national seed authorities to apply COMESA regulations and thereby ease seed trade, as well as work with informal cross-border traders to identify interventions to address key constraints to small-scale grain trade. 

In the area of technology and innovation, the Hub contributed to the introduction of six productivity-enhancing technologies in the agribusiness and dairy industries in Kenya and Ethiopia to enhance competiveness in selected value chains.