Measures with a minimal impact on trade can be used freely, they are in a green box (green as in traffic lights). These include government services such as research, disease control, infrastructure and food security. This includes direct payments to farmers who do not stimulate production, such as certain forms of direct income support, aid to help farmers restructure agriculture and direct payments under environmental and regional aid programmes. Added to the importance of agriculture in developing countries is the fact that poorer consumers spend more of their income on food, making them more vulnerable to rising prices and falling incomes. Based on 13 national studies conducted by local non-governmental organizations around the world for Consumers International, this report will explain how the World Trade Organization`s trade rules for food, the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA), affect consumers. It will also set out the positions of individual countries in the ongoing WTO agricultural negotiations. This report will then show how agricultural liberalisation has affected consumers in different countries and recommend how WTO agricultural negotiations could be conducted in order to best meet the interests of global consumers. As part of the Consumers Internationals Consumers and Global Market program, this report focuses on the experiences of consumers living with liberalized agricultural trade in Bolivia, Brazil, Chad, Fiji, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Poland, South Korea, Ukraine and Zambia. National agricultural support systems are governed by the Agreement on Agriculture, which entered into force in 1995 and was negotiated in the Uruguay Round (1986-1994). The long-term objective of the AoA is to establish a fair and market-oriented agricultural trading system and to initiate a reform process by negotiating support and protection commitments and establishing stronger and more operationally effective rules and discipline. Agriculture is therefore special because the sector has its own agreement, the provisions of which prevail. Domestic production, including subsistence agriculture, is an important source of food for much of the world`s population. In poorer agriculture-based economies, it tends to be more reliable than trade-based food sources because it creates jobs and does not depend on exchange rate volatility and fluctuating world market prices.
The AoA should encourage national governments to pursue national agricultural development and give governments the possibility to restrict imports if they have a deterrent effect on domestic production. With the advent of the WTO, the Indian economy has changed enormously. The WTO Agreement on Agriculture has had a major impact on Indian agriculture, which India has felt on several occasions. Competitive agricultural markets (CAM) were not correct. Agricultural exports were dominated by a few large multinationals and trade representatives. Cheap imports have often hit Indian markets and sent shockwaves through agricultural producers. The subsequent effects of WTO policy were undemocratic due to the lack of transparency during the negotiations. There are also other factors for low productivity in India. With the exception of the rice market, India is a negligible force in the global market Chad is prone to drought, especially in the northern Sahara and central Sahel belts.
The south of the country is best suited for agriculture and supports the production of cereals and cotton. Its central belt is best suited for cattle breeding and cereal production. Livestock plays an important role in Chadian exports and is the sector on which 40% of the population depends for their livelihoods. Fishing is also an important source of food, providing 10% of GDP. Cotton cultivation employs 400,000 people. The level of production is unpredictable, as is the case for many agricultural products in both countries. As a result, household prices, incomes and food security vary widely. The impact on consumers, as reported by consumer groups in case studies commissioned by Consumers International, illustrates what it is like to live under the AoA and the liberalisation of agriculture in general. These portraits will serve as a basis for recommendations for the future of the Convention on Agriculture. The tariff package contained more. It ensured that quantities imported before the entry into force of the Agreement could continue to be imported and ensured that certain new quantities would be subject to customs duties which were not prohibitively expensive.
This has been achieved through a system of tariff quotas, lower tariff rates for certain quantities, higher (sometimes much higher) rates for quantities exceeding the quota. Ukraine`s agricultural sector is in crisis. GDP has fallen to less than 40% of its 1989 level. The demand for food, especially protein-rich foods, declined significantly in the 1990s as the purchasing power of the population declined. Supply shortages are so severe that production of some crops has fallen to pre-1940 levels and even pre-1917 levels. Prices rose sharply in 2000, while wage arrears remained large and services continued to decline. A significant part of the work in rural areas is paid in kind, and barter is on the agenda. In addition, the price gap between industry and agriculture hinders the development of the agricultural sector. South Korea`s agriculture, which accounts for 6% of the country`s GDP, depends on subsidies, is intensive and small. Its farmers have an average area of one hectare. About half of the cultivated area is used for the cultivation of rice, the country`s staple food.
The WTO Agreement on Agriculture has both a negative and a positive impact on Indian agriculture. About 70% of India`s population depends on agriculture, so total exports – the import of agricultural products directly or indirectly – depend on WTO laws. Therefore, WTO standards play a crucial role in improving the socio-economic conditions of the rural population in India. In fact, WTO laws have a direct or indirect impact on the Indian economy. Bolivian consumers are more concerned about the impact that growing genetically modified crops could have on the environment. In addition, consumers in Bolivia and South Korea are concerned about the potential socio-economic impact of growing genetically modified seeds. Many genetically modified seeds require the use of fertilizers and pesticides, which are often produced by the same companies that own the intellectual property rights to the seeds. Herbicide-resistant seed varieties and the spectre of non-breeding “Terminator” seeds raise concerns that smallholder farmers will become increasingly dependent on TNCs, leading to increased debt and bankruptcy. In such circumstances, land ownership would become more concentrated as smallholder farmers would be forced to give up their property. South Korean consumers have expressed similar concerns both about the possibility of higher levels of transnational control over agricultural product chains by companies and about food safety concerns surrounding genetically modified foods.
Claims that genetic engineering offers a solution to the high incidence of food insecurity and malnutrition have been rejected on the grounds that “hunger is a problem of inequality of distribution”. Despite the potential impacts on the health, environment and socio-economic status of gmised foods, the lack of clear use of import protections for these products if consumers do not want to consume GM foods or grow GM plants raises serious concerns about consumer choice. For the export-oriented agricultural sectors in Kenya, there is the problem of price volatility on the world market. From 1995 to 1997, 55 per cent of Kenya`s exports were agricultural, mostly tea, coffee or horticultural products. Low international coffee prices have forced some Kenyan coffee farmers to focus on producing enough food to feed themselves and their families. Input prices have risen in Kenya in recent years, as in most countries. Only four transnational corporations produce one third of all commercial seeds, fertilizers and pesticides used in the world. The agreement allows governments to support their rural economies, but preferably through measures that cause less trade distortion. It also allows for flexibility in how commitments are implemented.
Developing countries do not have to reduce their subsidies or tariffs as much as developed countries, and they have more time to meet their commitments. The least developed countries do not have to do that at all. Special provisions respond to the interests of countries that depend on imports for their food supply and to the concerns of the least developed economies. In principle, all WTO agreements and arrangements on trade in goods apply to agriculture, including the GATT 1994 and WTO agreements in areas such as customs valuation, import licensing procedures, preshipment inspection, emergency measures, subsidies and technical barriers to trade. .