Putting food security before trade

The WTO and the conflict over food reserves

Autor*innen

• Thomas Fritz

Parameter

• Wirtschaft

Mehr zum Buch

The last WTO ministerial conference in Bali, Indonesia, in December 2013, was marked by a controversy over food security involving 33 developing countries (G33) and industrialized nations. The G33 aimed to amend the WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture to ease constraints on food reserves, a topic that gained urgency after the 2007-2008 food price crisis. However, industrialized countries, particularly the EU and the US, opposed these changes, fearing they would lead to significant trade-distorting subsidies. Ultimately, a compromise was reached, allowing the conference to conclude successfully, but the interim solution left much to be desired from a food security standpoint. This policy paper examines the Bali controversy's background, detailing the history of food reserves managed by marketing boards in developing countries, their decline after the 1980s debt crisis, and the renewed interest in these tools following recent food price spikes. It outlines WTO rules that may limit the establishment of grain reserves for food security and analyzes the G33 proposal discussed at the conference. The paper concludes with recommendations for reframing WTO rules to better align with the evolving agricultural economy and enhance food security.

• Sprache: Englisch
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2014