Towards a More Competitive, Inclusive, and Resilient Agrifood Sector in Argentina

Argentina’s agrifood sector drives both prosperity and crisis. While agrifood generates essential foreign currency earnings, tax revenue and employment, the sector’s vulnerability to external shocks can wreak havoc on the larger economy. This agriculture sector review addresses the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of Argentina’s agrifood sector. The economic dimension is vital, due to the influence of agrifood productivity and its growth on Argentina’s macroeconomy. The social, or inclusion, dimension highlights the potential to improve the livelihoods of the rural poor as well as access to affordable food for the urban poor. Finally, the environmental dimension examines the urgent need to increase the resilience of agricultural production systems and support their adaptation to climate change, as well as the agrifood sector’s potential to mitigate climate change and other externalities. This summary report is based on a series of more detailed sectoral background papers and is aimed at public sector policymakers and other key stakeholders, with the goal of identifying potential reforms in public policies and programs and contributing to the development of a new shared vision for the Argentine agrifood sector.