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Weak global trade governance structures hinder South Africa’s G20 presidency: A review of the Agriculture Working Group

Weak global trade governance structures hinder South Africa’s G20 presidency: A review of the Agriculture Working Group
Noncedo Vutula
By Noncedo Vutula
17 Apr 2025
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The African Union’s (AU) full membership in the G20 since 2023 has put Africa’s developmental agenda in the forefront of the discussions. The AU’s interests in the G20 include agriculture, trade, climate action, and the global governance of artificial intelligence (AI). Considering the G20’s existential challenges and the United States’ minimalist approach to multilateralism, it is imperative that developing countries have a robust voice to salvage the G20. They should provide an alternative narrative showing that their unity is well positioned to rebuild the multilateral trading system.

This is the final of a four-part OP-ED series led by the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance at the University of Cape Town, providing insights on the key themes being discussed by the world’s major economies in more than 140 major official meetings until the G20 Summit in November 2025.

Agriculture was first included in the G20 agenda in 2010 under the French G20 presidency, focusing on food security and particularly addressing the structural issues that contribute to high and fluctuating food prices in global markets. The G20 includes significant agricultural producers, exporters, and commodities traders. 

Some G20 members offer substantial agricultural subsidies, which distort agricultural trade and affect food security. The G20 nations should enhance agricultural productivity and incomes, adapt to climate change, and build resilience, while simultaneously reducing and eliminating greenhouse gas emissions to achieve national food security and development objectives.

The African Union (AU) received permanent G20 membership in 2023 at the G20 Summit in India. The AU addresses Africa’s development issues while supporting G20 discussions. The AU’s G20 priorities are accelerating Agenda 2063 implementation, intensifying advocacy for international financial architecture reform and sovereign debt restructuring, increasing agricultural productivity for food security, advancing the green energy transition, enhancing trade and attracting investments for the Africa Continental Free Trade Area, and improving Africa'’s credit rating for investment, health, and agriculture.

The AU will promote Africa’s agricultural ambitions through the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme and the Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security in Africa. Though improved over time, the programme framework's essential concepts remain. The 2014 Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme assessment generated the Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods.  

Kampala Declaration


The Kampala Declaration of January 2025 established a new African food systems transformation framework based on Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme ideals. The Kampala Declaration seeks to increase sustainable food production, agro-industrialisation and trade; increase investment and financing for accelerated Agri food systems transformation; ensure food and nutrition security; promote inclusivity and equitable livelihoods; build resilient systems; and strengthen governance.

The Kampala Declaration should guide the AU’s G20 Agriculture Working Group participation. This declaration promotes agrifood system transformation by integrating farmers into value chains, promoting climate-resilient practices, and implementing inclusive policies that support Africa’s development goals. The Kampala Declaration emphasises the interconnection of agriculture, nutrition, economic development, and value chains, and calls for integrated sustainable practices from production to consumption. 

Based on the insights from the past three years of G20 summits in the South on food and nutrition security, South Africa has prioritised policies and investments that promote fair market participation, climate resilience for sustainable agricultural practices and food nutrition security. 

Indonesian legacy projects promoted green financing and sustainable palm oil to improve food security and climate. India prioritised food security and millet, a healthy and climate-resilient alternative grain. Brazil promoted climate-smart agriculture and founded the Global Alliance for Hunger and Poverty to lift 500 million people out of poverty with cash transfers and social protection. South Africa must evaluate agricultural challenges and prioritise high-impact legacy projects for its G20 leadership.  

The G20 may struggle to produce meaningful commitments due to rising trade unilateralism and lack of enforcement mechanisms. A poor global trade governance framework undermines the G20, which relies on stable and predictable trade regulations to boost economic development, investment, and cooperation. 

Global trade governance


Global trade governance was restructured after World War 2 through the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations between 1986 and 1994, which created the World Trade Organization in 1995. Despite its imperfections, the organisation established rules for equitable global trade. It also transformed global trade policies and positioned agriculture as a crucial element. 

However, US’ reciprocal requirements are negating many of the World Trade Organization rules. The Uruguay Round brought agriculture within global trade laws, but many developed countries are evading the World Trade Organization rules by negotiating bilateral and regional trade treaties, pushing countries to negotiate unequally. There is also an increasing use of non-tariff measures like sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures and environmental restrictions to block agricultural exports from developing countries to many developed countries. 

The African Union, G20 and global stakeholders must oppose the trend promoted by certain developed nations towards increased protectionism, which undermines the progress achieved within the multilateral trading framework. Africa is poised to experience significant setbacks, as its sustainable food systems heavily rely on small-scale farmers, with 33 out of the 45 least developed countries situated within its borders.

Developing G20 nations like India, Brazil, Indonesia, and South Africa use beneficiaries of Special and Differential Treatment under the World Trade Organization to protect their agricultural sectors, help small-scale farmers, and ensure food security. Reciprocity might push these countries to reduce support for food security purposes, expose them to cheap imports from industrialised economies and disrupt local agricultural systems and rural lives.

The G20 Agricultural Working Group is aligned with the World Trade Organization negotiations concerning agriculture. Should major powers undermine World Trade Organization principles, the integrity of the multilateral trading system will be compromised. This may prompt emerging economies to pursue alternative trade alliances beyond the G20, thereby diminishing the group's capacity to effectively coordinate global agricultural policy.

The G20 Agriculture Working Group should reaffirm its commitment to a rules-based trading system that promotes fairness and inclusiveness, in response to the rising global tensions and increased trade protectionism. The Agriculture Working Group should ideally focus on developing resilient, inclusive, and sustainable agricultural systems while ensuring food security, fair trade, and innovation, especially in light of the growing trend of protectionism in international trade. DM

Noncedo Vutula is the Chief Research Officer, responsible for the AfCFTA and regional integration at the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town. For the period of 2015 to 2019, she served as the agriculture representative for South Africa at the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. Between 2018 and 2019, she served as the chairperson of the World Trade Organization's Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures.

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