An Economic Analysis of the Global Market Opportunities for Afghanistan’s Agricultural Products

Abstract

Agriculture has been a steady contributor in the economy of Afghanistan through the years, however, the country is still heavily reliant on imports in order to satisfy its domestic demand for agricultural staples. Despite the increase in the agricultural export value from 1961 to 2011, its growth has been sluggish. The primary purpose of this study is to provide an analysis of the competitiveness of Afghanistan’s agricultural exports and to identify the factors that may affect the market opportunities of these products. After calculating the revealed comparative advantage (RCA) indices for each product with reference to the different regions of the world it was found out that Afghanistan has a large potential for market expansion for all its major agricultural exports in Asia, Europe, Oceania, Africa, and the Americas. Moreover, Afghanistan’s geographical position, its bilateral agreements with several countries, and its membership in regional and international economic organizations, are factors that may facilitate the global market expansion of the major agricultural exports of the country.