Document analytique (résumé seulement)- mars 2011

L’Union européenne (UE) déploie une vaste panoplie d'instruments de politique pour protéger son secteur agricole et pour faire en sorte que, malgré les coûts de production élevés, les agriculteurs européens continuent de produire à la fois pour les marchés internes et les marchés d’exportation.

Document analytique (résumé seulement) - mars 2011

Dans lesnégociations portant sur les accords de libre-échange (ALE) conclus dans le cadre européen, l'UE refusait de débattre des subventions agricoles au motif qu’elles faisaient déjà l’objet de discussions à l'Organisation mondiale du commerce (OMC). Cet argument est réfutable, car les ALE réduiront les droits de douane appliqués par les pays en développement encore plus que ce qui est demandé dans les négociations à l'OMC engagées dans le cadre du Cycle de Doha.

Document analytique (résumé seulement) - Novembre 2009

Après dix ans de négociations sur l'agriculture, les dispositions du MSS ont été considérablement diminuées par les pays développés et les pays en développement exportateurs rivalisant pour les marchés d’exportation des produits agricoles. De nouvelles conditions ont été introduites dans les projets de textes relatifs au MSS.

Document analytique (résumé des recommandations) - Novembre 2009

Extrait : "La clause qui exempte les expéditions en cours de route de l’application du MSS fondé sur les prix fait qu’il sera en pratique difficile pour la plupart des pays en développement d'invoquer le MSS, au vu du texte tel qu’il est actuellement. La SGS fonctionne de telle manière que les pays importateurs relèvent les droits à la frontière seulement à l’arrivée des expéditions et seulement s’il est clair que le prix d’une expédition est descendu en dessous d’un prix de déclenchement. Sans que le MSS fondé sur les prix ne prévoie la même possibilité, les pays en développement ne pourront probablement pas l’invoquer."

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Document analytique - Novembre 2009

Extrait : "Le seuil de déclenchement peut être fixé à 100% ou 105% de la moyenne des trois années précédentes de manière à ce que les pays puissent prendre des mesures plus tôt. Cependant, il serait plus efficace encore d'utiliser un seuil de déclenchement trimestriel, et non pas annuel.

Document analytique (résumé seulement) - Novembre 2009

Dans le présent document, nous donnons un aperçu des tendances des poussées des importations de produits agricoles dans divers groupements de pays en développement, ainsi que les statistiques des poussées des importations réalisées à partir d’un échantillon de 56 pays en développement. Puis, nous étudions quels sont les produits pour lesquels les poussées des importations sont les plus fréquentes.

In most African countries, agriculture remains a critical sector for employment. This is particularly the case where countries have a majority of subsistence farmers. The sector is also important if broad based development is to be achieved. Incomes of small farmers must be increased. This will then stimulate demand in the local economy and lead to the production of high value added products.

Conversely, mismanaging the agricultural sector can impact very negatively on countries’ development and can also increase levels of poverty. The latter has in fact been the result of the last twenty years of structural adjustment policies in many African countries. From being net food exporters in the 1970s, the liberalization policies of the 1980s and 1990s led to only small increases in the growth of exports, but exponential growth in terms of Africa’s imports of food products.

South Centre Analytical Note - October 2008

This paper outlines the main events which took place during the WTO’s July mini-Ministerial. It goes on to provide a discussion of the key issues that were important in that meeting – agriculture, cotton, the non-agriculture market access negotiations, as well as systemic process concerns. It concludes with some thoughts on the challenges confronting developing countries – high food prices, livelihoods and climate change, and the implications these challenges pose for the WTO. 

Document analytique - Juin 2008

Ce Document analytique offre un panorama des dispositions sur l’agriculture prévues par les APE intérimaires qui ont été paraphés fin 2007 entre l’UE et 35 pays ACP. Une meilleure compréhension des défis que l’agriculture subsaharienne doit relever pour croître et l’établissement de mesures qui pourraient l’aider à le faire sont essentiels dans la formulation d’un programme d’initiatives qui constituerait un chapitre sur l’agriculture des APE.

Research Papers 1

INTRODUCTION

A number of developing countries,1 and especially least developed countries (LDCs), rely on agriculture for their food security, export earnings and rural development. It has been estimated that the agricultural sector accounts for between 30 per cent and 60 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) for many of these countries, and is the major source of foreign exchange. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (2002) noted that the economies of many developing countries depend on the exports of one or a few commodity exports, making them particularly vulnerable to price variations on specific commodities. It noted that single commodity-dependence is more pronounced in tropical regions, and notably so for specific tropical products including sugar, coffee, bananas, cotton lint and cocoa beans. The variability and decline of commodity prices is well documented (FAO, 2005). It erodes the competitiveness of commodities exported from non-subsidizing developing countries, discourages investment and expansion of their food exporting sectors and, in the event that developing countries depend heavily on agricultural exports, worsen their terms of trade.

According to the FAO’s State of Agricultural Commodity Markets (2005), the variability and decline in international agricultural commodity prices has serious implications for developing countries that are highly dependent on commodity export earnings, especially from traditional tropical crops. Since tariff escalation in agricultural markets is regarded as one of the major factors hindering the processing of traditional products for export, analysts have explored the potential for exporting non - traditional fresh fruits and vegetables to QUAD countries (Canada, the EU, Japan and the United States). These are valid alternatives because first, tropical fruits and vegetables are not usually cultivated in QUAD countries and therefore, their trade is not distorted by domestic producer support measures. Secondly, consumer tastes in QUAD countries are diversifying into ‘exotic’ tropical fruits and vegetables. The FAO for example, is currently helping market players to develop international trade for organic mangoes and pineapples produced in Sub-Saharan Africa.

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South Centre Analytical Note - April 2005

INTRODUCTION

Information on non-agricultural commodities is not as widely available as for agricultural commodities. The purpose of this paper is to identify, in contrast to agricultural commodities, what is the extent of dependency of developing countries on non-agricultural commodities, what are the main characteristics of this dependency, which developing countries are most dependent on this type of commodities and what are the challenges they face in the trade arena and from a wider developmental view.

Many developing countries are highly dependent on non-agricultural commodities. Although declining prices, price fluctuations, commodity export dependence and lack of diversification are similar to agricultural commodities, there are other issues with pose specific challenges to their sustainable development.

This paper is structured in the following manner: we will first define what nonagricultural commodities are, then we will identify which commodities developing countries are most dependent on, we will examine their trade patterns and price tendencies and then we will identify the challenges faced by developing countries dependent on non-agricultural commodities.

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South Perspectives -August 2000

OVERVIEW

Many national governments and their international organizations, as well as several non-governmental development agencies, in the 1990s declared “sustainable development” and “sustainable agriculture” to be among their overarching goals. This paper examines the crucial importance of agriculture in “sustainable development” and some of the conceptual ambiguities and practical difficulties that must be faced by developing countries in attempting to approach “sustainable agriculture”.

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