Using a combination of global, national and household level analysis this study examines the potential effects of agricultural policy and trade reform.
This study reviews policy developments in recent years and, in the light of that, explores ways in which further consensus might be reached among WTO members to reduce farm trade distortions – and thereby also progress the multilateral trade reform agenda. Particular attention is given to ways that would boost well-being in developing countries, especially for those food-insecure households still suffering from poverty and hunger.
"This timely new book analyzes the possible linkages between agricultural trade liberalization and the environment, and assesses the negative and positive impacts of any possible reforms." "In the context of ongoing trade negotiations, this comprehensive book provides an objective overview of the potential economic consequences of the relationship between trade and the environment. It will be of special interest to agricultural, development and environmental economists as well as policymakers and policy analysts confronting the practical problems of environmental and economic assessment."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Abstract: Rich countries' agricultural trade policies are the battleground on which the future of the WTO's troubled Doha Round will be determined. Subject to widespread criticism, they nonetheless appear to be almost immune to serious reform, and one of their most common defenses is that they protect poor farmers. The authors' findings reject this claim. The analysis uses detailed data on farm incomes to show that major commodity programs are highly regressive in the United States, and that the only serious losses under trade reform are among large, wealthy farmers in a few heavily protected subsectors. In contrast, analysis using household data from 15 developing countries indicates that reforming rich countries' agricultural trade policies would lift large numbers of developing country farm households out of poverty. In the majority of cases these gains are not outweighed by the poverty-increasing effects of higher food prices among other households. Agricultural reforms that appear feasible, even under an ambitious Doha Round, achieve only a fraction of the benefits for developing countries that full liberalization promises, but protect U.S. large farms from most of the rigors of adjustment. Finally, the analysis indicates that maximal trade-led poverty reductions occur when developing countries participate more fully in agricultural trade liberalization.
How can agricultural trade reform serve the needs of the poor? What are the benefits of agricultural trade liberalisation, and what are the potential dangers? This publication includes the proceedings of the OECD global forum on agricultural trade reform, adjustment and poverty, held in Paris in May 2002. Agricultural trade reforms offer an important route to higher incomes for many of the world's poor, but may expose some who were formerly shielded from world markets. Developing countries must be able to reap the benefits of open markets, while retaining the flexibility to help those who are unable, or will take time, to adjust to a new environment. At the same time, OECD countries have a responsibility to consider the effects that their own policies have on the world's poor.
This study investigates whether agricultural policy reforms could help cushion the impacts of climate change on agriculture by facilitating the relocation of production and international trade. The agricultural sector faces immense challenges in ensuring the provision of food, farm incomes, employment and environmental services in a changing climate. Its ability to meet these challenges depends, in part, on the flexibility with which agricultural production can be relocated in response to agro-ecological and market conditions being reshaped by climate change in a sustainable manner. To better understand these interactions, this study employs a quantitative model to assess the economic and environmental effects of removing market distorting policies under climate change. The results suggest that the policy reforms could reduce the extent to which climate change increases agricultural commodity prices and undernourishment and, in that sense, contribute to global adaptation to climate change. Accompanying policy measures may however be required to prevent potential trade-offs associated with the reforms, including increases in land use emissions.
The governments of most developed, and many developing, countries impose border measures—tariffs, tariff rate quotas and export subsidies—to boost the domestic market prices of agricultural commodities. In some OECD countries, governments also ...
This report focuses on the significant developments in world agricultural markets and in the policies of major agricultural producing regions since the latest round of WTO negotiations began in 2001.