Agreement on Agriculture
Introduction:
The Agreement on Agriculture is an international treaty of the World Trade Organization. It was negotiated during the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and entered into force with the establishment of the WTO on January 1, 1995. The Agreement on
Agriculture is one of the two main sectoral agreements in the Uruguay Round Agreements that provides the specific rules in the liberalisation of agricultural products. The other one is the
Agreement on Textiles. As in all the other multilateral trade agreements that came into effect in
1995, the AOA is binding to all members of the WTO. Based on its avowed goal of establishing a fair and market-oriented trading system in agriculture, the AOA obliges member nations to increase market access and reduce trade-distorting agricultural subsidies. The implementation period is different for developed and developing countries, with the former given six years or until 2000 to implement their commitments and the latter ten years or until2004. However, as the paper will discuss below, the agriculture agreement itself is fundamentally flawed and highly iniquitous; and that instead of leveling the playing field in international trade in agriculture, it reinforces the monopoly control of wealthier countries and their transnational corporations over global agriculture production and trade.
Historical context
By the 1980s, government payments to agricultural producers in industrialized countries had caused large crop surpluses, which were unloaded on the world market by means of export subsidies, pushing food prices down. The fiscal burden of protective measures increased, due both to lower receipts from import duties and higher domestic expenditure. In the meantime, the global economy had entered a cycle of recession, and the perception that opening up markets could improve economic conditions led to calls for a new round of multilateral trade negotiations. The round would
The Agreement on Agriculture is an international treaty of the World Trade Organization. It was negotiated during the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and entered into force with the establishment of the WTO on January 1, 1995. The Agreement on
Agriculture is one of the two main sectoral agreements in the Uruguay Round Agreements that provides the specific rules in the liberalisation of agricultural products. The other one is the
Agreement on Textiles. As in all the other multilateral trade agreements that came into effect in
1995, the AOA is binding to all members of the WTO. Based on its avowed goal of establishing a fair and market-oriented trading system in agriculture, the AOA obliges member nations to increase market access and reduce trade-distorting agricultural subsidies. The implementation period is different for developed and developing countries, with the former given six years or until 2000 to implement their commitments and the latter ten years or until2004. However, as the paper will discuss below, the agriculture agreement itself is fundamentally flawed and highly iniquitous; and that instead of leveling the playing field in international trade in agriculture, it reinforces the monopoly control of wealthier countries and their transnational corporations over global agriculture production and trade.
Historical context
By the 1980s, government payments to agricultural producers in industrialized countries had caused large crop surpluses, which were unloaded on the world market by means of export subsidies, pushing food prices down. The fiscal burden of protective measures increased, due both to lower receipts from import duties and higher domestic expenditure. In the meantime, the global economy had entered a cycle of recession, and the perception that opening up markets could improve economic conditions led to calls for a new round of multilateral trade negotiations. The round would
References: Ataman, Aksoy, M. (2007). Global Agricultural Trade Policies. In Ataman and Beghin (Eds.), Global Agricultural Tradeand Developing Countries Anderson, Kym and Martin, Will. (2007). Agricultural Trade Reform and the Doha Agenda. The World Economy, Vol.28..FAO (Rome: FAO). [Online] Available: www.fao.org/docrep/005/y4632e/y4632e00.htm (Dec.7, 2007). IMF/World Bank paper. (2002). Market Access for Developing Country Exports- Selected Issues. [Online] Available:www.imf.org/external/np/pdr/ma/2002/eng/092602.pdf (Dec.7, 2007). Clapp, Jennifer. (2006). WTO Agriculture Negotiations and the Global South. [Online] Available: http://www.yale.edu/envirocenter/clapp_paper.pdf (Dec.8, 2007). Prema-chndra ATHUKORALA. (2007). Agricultural Trade Reforms in the Doha Round: A Developing Country