Boost fair markets.

Support strong competition law and enforcement to unravel entrenched market concentration and ensure that the rules of the market are fair for everyone.

The extreme levels of concentration in many African food and agricultural markets reveal dysfunctions and distortions in the system. From input to retail, markets are concentrated and present high barriers to entry, leading to frequent and harmful cartels.

Read our landmark three-part report that reviews the impact of agrifood market concentration in Sub-Saharan Africa, provides a situation analysis of existing competition law and institutions and proposes a new reform agenda to strengthen competition regimes.

Tracking market power

The Shamba Centre publishes an Agrifood Anti-Monopoly Tracker to provide information on competition issues affecting agrifood markets in Africa.

It includes merger notifications, cases of anti-competitive behaviour and market research undertaken by by competition authorities.

African Market Observatory Price Tracker

The Shamba Centre supports the monthly publication of the African Market Observatory (AMO) Price Tracker.

The monthly price tracker summarises key trends in prices in East and Southern Africa for selected staple food products.

The Shamba Centre supports competition authorities at the different stages of development in their enforcement activity, whether merger screening, market inquiries (or studies) or tackling anti-competitive behaviour.

This work contributes to making markets more competitive and fair for MSMEs in agri-food markets. Small producers and farmers can thus access new opportunities and thrive in these markets.