South Africa and Nigeria, two top beneficiaries of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), should be better markets for U.S. pork, says Maria Zieba, National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) vice president of government affairs. AGOA is one of the U.S. preferential trade programs, providing market access to sub-Saharan African countries, allowing them to export more than 1,800 products to the U.S. duty-free.
In a written testimony submitted to the House Ways and Means Committee, NPPC urged AGOA be renewed, but with conditions including enhanced enforcement that would aim to remove ongoing “unwarranted, non-scientific” restrictions on U.S. pork in South Africa and Nigeria. On June 13, the panel held a hearing on the program, which is up for renewal in 2025.
“AGOA provides market access to the U.S. for countries in Africa as long as they meet minimum thresholds, are in development and the product cannot directly compete with our domestic industries,” Zieba explains.
South Africa’s net pork imports average about 9% of the country’s consumption, but almost none of that comes from the U.S., even though America accounts for around 30% of the global pork trade. In 2023, the U.S. exported just 313 metric tons of pork, valued at $718,000, to South Africa. Nigeria has the potential to import $26 million of U.S. pork annually, given its rapidly growing population of 236 million people and increasing protein-consumption trends.
“The issue is that they get access to the U.S., and they are supposed to, as part of the bill, provide reciprocal access for U.S. products,” she points out. “We have been advocating for over a decade to get market access for U.S. pork. Right now, we’re pushing Congress not only to pass AGOA but also to get the South Africans to lower their trade barriers on U.S. pork.”
Better enforcement is key. Zieba says it comes down to not only having the text and the bill reauthorized, but making sure the text includes better enforcement mechanisms so U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) can push these countries to provide and live up to their commitments.
“We believe South Africa is falling short of that,” Zieba says. “This is why we’ve been pushing not only the U.S. government through USTR and USDA, but also in Pretoria, to get them to open up the market for U.S. pork.”
Africa needs pork, and Zieba says U.S. pork is the answer.
“We can provide that high quality, affordable, safe pork they can then use domestically to feed their growing population,” she says. But access remains a barrier.
Time is Ticking
Zieba hopes to get AGOA renewed within this Congress because trade is crucial to the U.S. pork industry with the country exporting over 25% of its production – more than $8 billion.
“I think there’s been this misconception that not a lot has been happening on trade. It’s really important to talk about the fact that just because we’re not talking about comprehensive free trade agreements, it doesn’t mean USTR isn’t negotiating with countries. They’ve been negotiating the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, the 21st Century U.S.-Taiwan Agreement and the U.S.-Kenya Framework.”
Zieba works closely with USDA and USTR to provide input on behalf of U.S. pork on negotiations on market access.
“These are precedent-setting agreements. As they move forward, we can ensure that it works not only for some producers, but for all producers, and that we’re all going to be able to benefit from the rules outlined in these frameworks,” Zieba says.
U.S. Pork’s Potential
While NPPC is working hard on opening up markets in Africa, Courtney Knupp, National Pork Board’s vice president of international market development says that the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), with investment and support from the Pork Checkoff, is continuing to lay the groundwork for exports.
Trends show about half the continent may consume pork based on a religious preference and that is huge demand potential, explains Knupp. She believes pork can follow the success of chicken and beef and is looking forward to the momentum U.S. Meat Export Federation can gain on the continent with the new USDA Regional Agricultural Promotion Program (RAPP) funds. RAPP focuses on Africa as a priority region for utilization and USMEF is the second largest recipient of the first tranche of RAPP funds to accelerate promotion of U.S. red meat.
“We know they’re importing pork product from the European Union, and a lot of that has to do with their historical connections to Europe. Once meaningful market access is obtained, we know we can offer an equal or better product at a more favorable and consistent price and value point,” Knupp says. “It’s about providing protein to this huge consumer base, and also teaching them the versatility of our product and supporting them in their journey to do so.”
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