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Smith, Fiona --- "Food Security and International Agricultural Trade Regulation: Old Problems, New Perspectives" [2012] ELECD 114; in McMahon, A. Joseph; Desta, Geboye Melaku (eds), "Research Handbook on the WTO Agriculture Agreement" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: Research Handbook on the WTO Agriculture Agreement

Editor(s): McMahon, A. Joseph; Desta, Geboye Melaku

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848441163

Section: Chapter 2

Section Title: Food Security and International Agricultural Trade Regulation: Old Problems, New Perspectives

Author(s): Smith, Fiona

Number of pages: 25

Extract:

2 Food security and international
agricultural trade regulation: old
problems, new perspectives
Fiona Smith


I. INTRODUCTION
How can the World Trade Organization's (WTO) rules on
international agricultural trade address food security more effectively?
This is a question taxing trade negotiators, policy officials outside the
WTO and many eminent academic commentators. There is such a
wealth of institutional literature and academic commentary advocating
changes to the WTO's international agricultural trade rules beyond
those in the Doha Draft Modalities for Agriculture that it is easy to get
swept along with the strong impetus for fundamental change (WTO,
2008b). Recent events have ensured that food security is high on the
political agenda too.
The 2010 Russian wheat export ban is putting pressure on
international wheat supplies. Russia is the world's fourth largest wheat
exporter and its export ban means supply problems for many WTO
Members. Argentina also retains long-term restrictions on the export
of agricultural products. In 2008 the Argentinean government
introduced further higher variable export taxes on beef, soybeans and
oilseeds, together with slightly lower rates for maize and wheat, on
´
domestic food security grounds (Nogues, 2008). The effectiveness of
this policy is questionable. Argentina suffered a severe social and
economic crisis in 2002. Export taxes were introduced as a very quick
way to generate crucial income to alleviate the severe poverty rates.
Whilst this policy alleviated the worst problems in the short term, the
´
long-term effects were surprising. The Nogues study shows these taxes
actually led ...