Competition, trade and sustainability in agriculture and food markets in Africa, Professor Simon Roberts, University of Johannesburg

Event Date: 13 October 2022

Speaker: Simon Roberts, Professor of Economics at the University of Johannesburg, and Strathclyde Business School Global Practitioner

Biography: Professor Roberts founded the Centre for Competition, Regulation and Economic Development (CCRED), at the University of Johannesburg and he is also a Global Practitioner at the University of Strathclyde. Simon has been an economics director at the UK Competition and Markets Authority and the Chief Economist and Manager of the Policy & Research Division at the Competition Commission of South Africa. Simon has advised competition authorities, regulators and governments on competition matters in many developing and middle-income countries, especially in Africa, and he has testified as an expert witness in a number of major cases in South Africa.

Abstract: Food and agriculture accounts for around one-third of global emissions reflecting the effects of consumption in high-income countries on production and land use around the world. These effects include those transmitted through international trade such as in the constituents of animal feed for meat. African countries face a dual challenge of adapting to the growing effects of climate change in the shape of extreme weather, and increasing agriculture and food production as part of developing their economies. At the same time, there is increasing concentration in the production and trading of agriculture and food products, globally and within Africa. This article considers the interaction of concentration and responses to climate change in food markets through a focus on meat and animal feed, and the developments in maize and soybeans in East and Southern Africa. The possible role for competition policy as part of a wider reform agenda is proposed.

Published: 30 October 2025