EXPLORING THE EFFECTS OF WTO’S TRADE INITIATIVES: A CASE OF MALAWI AGRICULTURE SECTOR

Malawi's largest sector in its trade portfolio is agriculture that is a key economic determinant and provider of most of its export earnings. Therefore in the foreseeable future the ago sector will continue to be a critical trade commodity and at stake is the country's global market within the confines on the World Trade Organization (WTO), despite some recent issues regarding the institution by some global economic powers. There is a continuous challenge for Malawi's agricultural sector to ramp competiveness and value addition. Being a least development country (LDC) it is compounded with multiple barriers from production to logistics and across borders and beyond into the global market, it therefore envisaged that WTO trade supporting initiatives can equip the agro-sector for enhanced performance. The article seeks to investigate the effects of WTO trade initiatives in the agricultural sector value chain performance. Survey method is used collect data and to formulate a model with a set of related hypothesis that are tested with statistical analysis. The results indicate key elements of the agriculture sector to improve competiveness and performance in the requisite value chain