Harmon C. Thomas
Chief
Commodity Policy and Projections Service
Commodities and Trade Division
FAO, Rome

I.
Comparison of food policy concepts

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Food Security
Right to food
Food Sovereignty
II. MDG challenge: reducing poverty & hunger by half by 2015
III. WTO rules and food policies


WTO Agreement on Agriculture
(AoA) – focus and objectives
Current renegotiation of the AoA and food policy issues

• Food Security - a technical concept
• Right to food - a legal concept
• Food Sovereignty - a political concept
 scope of the three terms is not strictly comparable because of their different natures !

Food Security I
Final Goal :
“Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”
World Food Summit, 1996

FSN

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Legal foundation: Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (Article
25), International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(Article 11)
Interpretation: General Comment
No. 12 by CESCR
Operationalization: Voluntary
Guidelines

Ultimate Goal:
“The right to adequate food is realized when every man, woman and child, alone or in community with others, has physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement”
CESCR, General Comment No. 12, para 6
Food Security = Right to food?

Definition:
“…the right of peoples, communities, and countries to define their own agricultural, labor, fishing, food and land policies which are ecologically, socially, economically and culturally appropriate to their unique circumstances.
It includes the true right to food and to produce food, which means that all people have the right to safe, nutritious and culturally appropriate food and to food-producing resources and the ability to sustain themselves and their societies.

Food sovereignty means the primacy of people’s and community’s rights to food and food production, over trade concerns. This entails the support and promotion of local markets and producers over production for export and food imports.”
NGO/CSO Forum’s Statement Food Sovereignty: A Right for All, 2002

I.
Comparison of food policy concepts



Food Security
Right to food
Food Sovereignty
II. MDG challenge: reducing poverty & hunger by half by 2015
III. WTO rules and food policies


WTO Agreement on Agriculture
(AoA) – focus and objectives
Current renegotiation of the AoA and food policy issues


Scope of the problem
• Poverty


1.1 billion people live on less than $1 a day
2.7 billion people – on less than $2 a day
• Hunger



815 million people go the bed every night hungry
Of 94 developing countries for which info is available
- in 28 of them, 20 – 34 % of pop undernourished
In another 18 countries, the proportion is more than
35%


Role of agriculture in reducing poverty and hunger
• Most of the world’s poor and food insecure people live in rural areas of developing countries - on average 70% of pop live in rural areas
• . . . . .and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods.
• Agricultural sector therefore crucial for their immediate welfare and for their future prospects.
• Food and agricultural production, and trade, are vital for food security, poverty alleviation and economic growth.
• Few countries have developed economically without first developing their agricultural sector
• Considerable un-utilized agricultural potential exists in many developing countries to meet the twin challenges of hunger and poverty.
• However, the potential is under-exploited. Why?

Why is the agricultural potential underexploited in developing countries?


Domestic factors
• Low investment and utilization of modern technology
• Ineffective domestic policy frameworks
External factors
• distorted international markets and the challenges arising from integrating into such markets

Government expenditure on agriculture as a share of total expenditure
Latin America and the Caribbean
Near East and North Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
East and Southeast Asia
South Asia
1990
2.46
4.12
6.53
6.81
7.65
1998
2.54
5.04
4.21
4.57
4.87
Source: FAO (2003)

Annual and accumulated
Total support to agriculture in OECD countries
1980 2002
US$ bil. 1938 US$ bil. 2208
US$ bil. 2336


At the national level
• Reactions to BOP crises
• Policy objectives
food security, livelihood security, poverty reduction
food self-sufficiency vs. food self-reliance

At the international level
• Agricultural reform process in the WTO

WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AoA)

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Focus: trade (commercial) interests
Objectives:
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“to establisih a fair and market-oriented agricultural trading system”
“to provide for substantial progressive reductions in agricultrual support and protection...resulting in correcting and preventing restrictions and distortions in world agricutral markets”

Relevant issues in the current renegotiation of the AoA
• Doha Declaration
• July 2004 Framework agreement
• Where we are now - 14 days to Hong Kong
– areas of convergence and divergence

Policy changes under consideration in the negotiations
Market Access
The basic objective
1. ‘substantial improvements in market access .. for all products (thru a ‘single approach’)
Additional objectives
2. progressivity
(deeper cuts in higher tariffs)
3. flexibility

 sensitive products special products

Policy changes under consideration in the negotiations
Market Access

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Mechanisms for addressing sensitivities
Sensitive products
• selection: by self-designation, but no. of tariff lines to be negotiated
• treatment: flexibility to achieve improvement in MA thru combination of TRQ commitments and tariff reduction
Special products
• selection: self-designation based on criteria of food security, livelihood security and rural development – to be negotiated
• treatment: more flexible treatment to be negotiated

Policy changes under consideration in the negotiations
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Market Access
Special and differential treatment for developing countries proportionality to be achieved through lesser:

 tariff reduction commitments, or
TRQ commitments
SSM for use by DC members fullest liberalization of trade in tropical products preference erosion will be addressed (how?)
LDCs

 no reduction commitment required duty-free and quota-free MA should be provided by DD and DCs
(in a position to do so)

Policy changes under consideration in the negotiations
Domestic Support
1.
TDS = AMS +DM + BB
• Formula for cutting final bound total AMS
• Overall reduction in TDS
• Product-specific AMS caps
• De Minimis
• Blue box criteria
2. Green box

Policy changes under consideration in the negotiations
Export Competition
1. All forms of export subsidies - parallel elimination
• scheduled export subsidies
• export credits (etc) exceeding 180 days
• STEs – subsidies, gov’t financing & underwriting of losses
• food aid – not in conformity with disciplines to be agreed

Policy changes under consideration in the negotiations
Export Competition
2. Export measures with equivalent effects parallel elimination
• export credits (etc) of 180 days or less
• STEs
- practices to be disciplined
- monopoly status
• food aid
- rules to prevent commercial displacement
- exemption of food aid in emergency situations
- other issues: aid in fully grant form, in-kind aid, monetization

Policy changes under consideration in the negotiations
Export Competition
3.
‘ Credible end date’ and implementation path
• 5 yrs, 10 yrs after agreement come into effect ?
• equal annual phase-out
• down-payment?
• back-loading will be permitted?