STDF - Investment Prioritizations in Developing Countries

Developing countries face considerable demands to enhance their sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) capacity as a means to boost agri-food exports or meet other domestic economic and social policy objectives. Since resources from national budgets and development partners are generally insufficient to meet all of these needs, priorities must be established.

Decisions on SPS investments for market access involve a number of complex technical issues, as well as questions about the likely effects on trade, economic growth or poverty reduction. Decision makers need to consider and weigh up diverse criteria (e.g. about the costs and expected effects on trade, agricultural productivity, poverty reduction, etc.), yet information about these effects is frequently not available.

The STDF has developed a decision-support framework to help countries prioritize SPS investment options for market access. The framework, known as SPS Market Access Prioritization (SPS MAP), aims to enhance the economic efficiency of SPS investment decisions, promote more transparent decision-making, and encourage dialogue among relevant public and private stakeholders. It uses a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) approach, as well as D-Sight computer software, to help derive priorities.

The SPS MAP framework has been used in some 10 countries to help prioritize SPS investments linked to market access and inform decision-making. Some of these applications have been facilitated by COMESA and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The framework has also been used in some cases to help prioritize investments within a particular sector (e.g. phytosanitary investment options in Vietnam).

Experiences from countries that have used the SPS MAP framework show how it can help to improve the economic efficiency of investment decisions, promote transparency and encourage public-private dialogue. In several countries, use of the framework has helped to secure funding to enhance SPS capacity in specific areas. In Belize, following the successful use of the framework to prioritize SPS investment options, it was also used to prioritize agricultural investments more broadly, and inform the strategic planning process.

More information is available on the STDF website (http://www.standardsfacility.org/sps-market-access-prioritization).

The STDF is a global partnership – established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Bank, the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) – that supports developing countries in building their capacity to implement international SPS standards, guidelines and recommendations as a means to improve their human, animal and plant health status and ability to gain or maintain access to markets.