The road from Doha to Hong Kong in the WTO agricultural negotiations: a developing country perspective

Developing countries have both offensive and defensive interestsin the Doha Round of WTO trade negotiations. This paper discussesthe extent to which these interests have been addressed in theJuly 2004 Framework Agreement and in the subsequent negotiations.Many of the key demands of developing countries appear to havebeen accepted in principle in the Agreement, but the lack ofspecific details on how most of these principles will be operationalisedmakes it hard to evaluate their real significance. Progressis needed on the development dimension of the negotiations ifthe Hong Kong Ministerial Council meeting is to succeed.     

The negotiations on agriculture in the Doha Development Agenda Round: current status and future prospects

The paper briefly discusses developments in the negotiationson agriculture in the WTO Doha Development Agenda Round fromJanuary 2000 to September 2005 and identifies the main elementsto be considered when speculating on the outcome of the MinisterialConference in Hong Kong.     

Eastern enlargement of the EU and its implications for agriculture and agricultural policies

In 2004 ten Eastern and Southern European countries will join the EU. Agriculture and agricultural policy is an important issue in this EU enlargement process, for several reasons. This paper assesses the implications of the enlargement process for agriculture and agricultural policies.     

Agricultural trade reform under the Doha Agenda: some key issues*

A successful agreement on agriculture is essential for an overall agreement under the WTO's Doha trade negotiations. Reaching agreement has been difficult, and as of August 2007, much still remains to be done if a successful agreement is to be reached. We consider three of the most controversial areas of the agricultural negotiations: the relative importance of domestic support, market access and export subsidies; three market access issues of sensitive‐product exceptions sought for all countries and, the additional special product exceptions sought for developing countries, the proposed special safeguard mechanism; and the domestic support issue. We show that decisions made on reform in these areas will have a critical influence on whether the negotiations achieve their objectives of promoting trade reform and reducing poverty.     

Conceptualising multifunctional agriculture from a global perspective: Implications for governing agricultural trade in the post-Doha Round era

The notion of multifunctional agriculture has been researched from diverse disciplines including economics, sociology, political economy, and geography since the URAA. In particular, the economics approach represents an attempt to tailor the concept of multifunctional agriculture to market- oriented WTO trade regime. The approach has been fundamentally troubled by the lack of concord among WTO member countries on the question of what constitutes multifunctional agriculture. This article redefines multifunctional agriculture as a concept encompassing six components that are extremely heterogeneous in their nature of external benefits. Upon examining different positions taken by the US, the EU, the Cairns group, LDCs, and the G10, this article develops a conceptual model explaining why the notion of multifunctional agriculture is conceived so differently across countries. The model posits that institutions, natural resources endowment, ecological conditions, farm policies, and culture/history unique to each country would determine the state of economic development and agricultural competitiveness in a country, which in turn shape the pattern of social demand for various components of multifunctional agriculture. The theorizing undertakes to overcome the Euro- centrism that has dictated the discourse of multifunctional agriculture since the URAA. Implications are discussed for the governance of agricultural trade in the post-Doha Round era.     

Special and differential treatment in the WTO agricultural negotiations: Analysis and policy recommendation

The on-going Doha Development Round under the World Trade Organization (WTO) has its main focus on development. This is due to the widespread disappointment with the results from the former Uruguay Round Agreement. Developing countries have not reaped the benefits of free trade. For this current Round to be a success, developing countries have to be more integrated in the multilateral trading system. One of the means of integrating is Special and Differential Treatment (SDT). SDT is a deviation from the basic principle of Most Favoured Nation, positing that developing countries can have more flexibility than others. This article investigates the positions on SDT made by WTO members. The analysis gives some insights into the negotiations. First, the analysis reveals the fact that the positions of WTO members are relatively close to each other. This could indicate that countries in fact agree or that sensitive areas are maintained as yet unaffected. Second, being able to sustain a certain level of tariff rates attracts most interest from developing countries. Third, higher income developing countries want to retain their right to support domestic producers. Finally, the article identifies the July Package right in the middle of the positions which indicate a future agreement.     

The 2005 WTO arbitration and the new EU import regime for bananas: a cut too far?

In 2001 an agreement was reached at the WTO for the EU to introducea ‘tariff-only’ regime which ‘would resultin at least maintaining total market access for MFN banana suppliers’.The analysis shows that, contrary to the WTO 2005 ruling, theimport regime proposed by the EU in the second step of the arbitrationwould have satisfied the requirement. The regime introducedon 1 January 2006 is expected to yield in 2007 MFN imports 400,000 tabove the level that would have occurred under the previousregime. In the longer run, MFN countries will see their exportsexpand, while the opposite would have happened had the new regimenot been introduced.     

Multifunctional agriculture, policy measures and the WTO: the Norwegian case

One of the questions debated in the ongoing WTO agricultural negotiations is whether 'trade-distorting' subsidies, or subsidies outside the 'green box', are needed in order to pursue non-trade concerns. The term 'multifunctional agriculture' is increasingly applied to describe non-trade concerns. This article focuses on how to achieve the multifunctional goals that nations may have with minimal trade-distortion. In the first part of the article, this is done by a literature review and a theoretical analysis. The findings are then converted into an analysis of possible policy formulations in a Norwegian context using a partial equilibrium model. The article argues that multifunctionality hardly can justify the use of market support, while it may justify production-related budget support if the positive externalities or public goods are produced jointly with or complementary to agricultural production. The article concludes with suggestions for WTO trade rules to prevent such policies from becoming a form of protectionism.     

Domestic Support and Border Measures for Processed Horticultural Products

In horticultural markets, trade barriers often apply to the processed products whereas domestic support applies to farm-produced raw commodities. Here we assess the effects of such trade barriers and domestic support by simulating the effects of policy reform on global processing tomato markets, which are faced with modest processed product tariffs and high domestic support in the European Union (EU). Both protection and EU subsidy drive down world welfare, but we find that reducing import tariffs for tomato products would yield greater effects on markets and larger welfare impacts outside Europe than would reductions in EU domestic support.     

Old and new partners: Similarity and competition in the EU foreign agri-food trade

This paper analyses the trade relationships among the EU-15 members and some emerging partners: the NMS, Turkey and China. The EU expansion to include 10 new countries has modified quite remarkably the features of agri-food trade in Europe. Some of the NMS, such as Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, significantly contribute to the international agri-food trade and, since the beginning of the process of EU accession, they have modified dramatically the exchanges with the EU-15. More recently, other countries such as Turkey and China have established new relationships with the EU. Turkey is a large Mediterranean country and, as a candidate to the EU accession, enjoys a differential treatment in the agri-food trade relationships with the EU. China can be considered as a new international competitor, growing at faster pace after having joined the WTO and increasing its agri-food trade exchanges with the EU. The analysis will focus on the measurement of the similarity of the agri-food exports of Italy and the remaining EU-15 member States with the new partners entering the EU-15 market. It will be carried out with the support of three different indicators: the export structure similarity index (ES), the product similarity index (PSI) and the quality similarity index (QSI), using the Eurostat database with an eight “digit” merchandize disaggregation and with reference only to agri-food exchanges. Results will indicate that there is little similarity, especially when a comparison is made between the exports of the EU-15 countries to the EU market. Moreover, quality remains a crucial factor for Italian and European agri-food products when competing with external products.     

Policy–making in the EU: the bananarama story, the WTO and policy transparency

The EU banana policy is manifestly bad. But despite a healthy policy transparency process and comprehensive public criticisms of its extreme inefficiencies, its costs have been growing progressively worse and more disruptive of international commerce. This raises serious doubts about the WTO process, and the policy transparency process itself. At the very least, the EU bananarama story told here means we should not be complacent about either.     

EU Requirements for Food Safety and Quality Systems in Turkey: Determinants of Perceptions

Abstract

The European Union (EU) is one of Turkey’s most important trade partners. A large number of Turkish agri-food processors, however, are still unable to produce in accordance with the EU specifications. Furthermore, it is uncertain how Turkish food producers perceive the EU regulations. Based on a questionnaire survey of 99 Turkish agri-food enterprises from various industry subsectors and a conceptual framework including knowledge, personal and economic perspectives, this article assesses perceptions of the EU requirements regarding food safety and quality systems in the Turkish agri-food industry. The results indicate that those perceptions vary widely among the processors depending on education level, firm size, and legal form of ownership. Moreover, subjective information related to the perceptions regarding advantages, requirements, and costs of food safety and quality practices significantly contributes to the perceptions examined. The findings have manifold implications which should be taken into account when adapting Turkish legislation to reflect EU regulations.     

Urban sprawl and climate change: A statistical exploration of cause and effect,with policy options for the EU

This study provides a brief evaluation of the relationship between trends in transport emissions and urban land-use by analysing correlation between transport CO₂ emissions data, GDP and population data with land-use change data from the CORINE database for EU Member States between 1990 and 2000.     

Industrial relations reform in Australia: implications for the agricultural and mining sectors

A major transformation in the processes that underpin industrial relations arrangements in Australia appears to have occurred during the last decade. The tribunal-based systems of conciliation and arbitration that have shaped labour-management relationships now play a far less pivotal role, and the system of awards is far less central to the determination of wages and conditions. Greater scope now exists for employees and employers to tailor their industrial relationship to the needs of the enterprise. This article provides an overview of the development of both collective and non-collective bargaining within the formal framework, and the likely impacts of such developments.     

Gender and agricultural productivity: implications of the Farm Input Subsidy Program in Malawi

Alleviating gender differences in agricultural productivity is vital for poverty reduction. While numerous studies suggest that gender differences in agricultural productivity are a result of female farmers having limited access to resources, few studies investigate the role of agricultural interventions in alleviating the constraints to input use and subsequently the gender gap in productivity. This study investigates whether there are gendered gains in agricultural productivity from participating in an input subsidy program and if these gains help reduce the gender gap. Using nationally representative data that is disaggregated at the plot level, this study analyzes the large‐scale voucher‐based Farm Input Subsidy Program in Malawi. Focusing on the total value of output per hectare, relationships are identified using weighted estimators, where the weights are constructed from propensity scores, and spatial fixed effects, to address the unobservable factors that may confound the relationship between program participation and productivity. The findings suggest that participation in the program improves agricultural productivity for both male and female farmers but it does not provide disproportionate help to female famers to overcome gender disparities in agricultural productivity. This suggests that female farmers face additional constraints to productivity apart from nonlabor input use.     

Reconciliation ecology in practice: Legal and policy considerations when implementing temporary nature on undeveloped lands in the European Union

Strict regulations, such as the EU Nature Directives, remain pivotal for halting the downward spiral for some protected species. In recent years, though, it has become clear that nature protection rules, are also generating perverse incentives, especially when rigidly applied to areas that have already been transformed by human use, such as agricultural land, quarries and port sites. With the arrival of novel incentive concepts, such as temporary nature in several EU Member States, an unprecedented window of opportunity exists to reframe current nature protection rules. Temporary nature fosters private landowners, ranchers and project developers to actively participate in the recovery of endangered species, also in urban and industrial environments. In return for allowing nature to develop on their undeveloped and vacant lands, the project developers are provided with the legal guarantee that they can still subsequently develop their lands at a later stage. These newly founded conservation policies, which are increasingly endorsed by stand out as striking illustrations of the recently emerged branch of reconciliation ecology, since they aim at increasing biodiversity by opting for win-win scenarios in human-dominated landscapes. It is concluded that a more reconciliatory approach towards nature conservation, which goes beyond the ambit of protected areas, can serve as a catalyst for biodiversity recovery across the wider landscape. Further research will need to underpin whether the ambitious presumptions with regard to these well-intentioned and innovative approaches to nature conservation are justified.     

Managing logging compensation payment conflicts in Ghana: Understanding actor-empowerment and implications for policy intervention

Forest resources outside permanent forest reserves form a substantial part of the overall natural forest biodiversity resources in Ghana. However, timber exploitation in off-reserve areas has been problematic as loggers and farmers have often been involved in conflicts over payment of crop-damage compensation. The paper examines 81 cases of this conflict which were reconstructed chronologically to investigate patterns of actors’ use of power resources and strategies and their effectiveness. The study employed an actor-empowerment conceptualisation of power and used a two-actor game model for the reconstruction of the conflicts. While several strategies and resources were mobilised and employed by the actors, their effectiveness were context-bound. The paper makes a case for areas where actors’ conflict capabilities could be built, why mediated bargaining can be more effective for managing such local conflict constellations and the need to interlock actor interests for mutual interaction by institutionalising mediated bargaining.