WEF Agricultural Task Force Links Unfair Trade Practices to Poverty

 
The World Economic Forum's Agricultural Trade Task Force released its first list of recommendations on February 4. The communiqué, which links trade reform to sustainable development and poverty relief, is designed to influence the new WTO round of agricultural negotiations agreed to at Doha.

The task force's recommendations begin with a declaration that "the allocation of resources towards appropriate agricultural policies and investments could make a significant contribution to alleviating the plight of the 1.2 billion people in the world who live on less than US$1 a day." To this end, it recommends reforms in three areas: equitable trade policies, stronger producers in developing countries, and social concerns.

The task force calls for eliminating market-distorting policies by developed countries-such as export subsidies and market access restrictions-that adversely affect global agricultural markets. "The total benefit of liberalizing agricultural trade globally should be in the region of US$250 billion by 2015, of which almost $150 billion would accrue to developing countries," the document estimates.

It also stresses the importance of productivity gains in the food production chain, arguing that "public and private sector investment in building agricultural capacity in developing countries must be substantially increased." The main areas it identifies for investment include "the installation of appropriate food production and processing capacity and technologies; education and training, particularly in technical areas such as sustainable agriculture, quality control and packaging; the development of necessary infrastructure, such as distribution, irrigation and communication systems; and institution building, in the form of research centers, regulatory and food safety assurance bodies."

The third and final recommendation is for the implementation of policies that "encourage environmentally sustainable, productive agricultural practices." In calling for socially responsible policies, the task force concludes that "trade is a means to an end, not an end to itself." Within an open, fair and equitable trading system, it cautions, "developing countries should also have the flexibility to support and protect low-income and resource-poor producers of staple crops from overwhelming competition that threatens their livelihood and undermines their food security."

The Agricultural Trade Task Force was created at the 2001 World Economic Forum. It is made up of food and beverage executives from such companies as Coca-Cola, General Mills, Kraft Foods and Monsanto; NGOs; and directors of international organizations and research institutes.

For the full text of the task force's recommendations, see www.weforum.org