Analytical Note, December 2015
WTO’s MC10: Agriculture Negotiations– Public Stockholding
Public stockholding programmes have over the past decades proven themselves to be very effective instruments for supporting domestic producers in agricultural production. Studies have shown that in
fact, countries that are still in the process of development, where markets are not well developed, need such public stockholding programmes to support their farmers.
Many developing countries do have these programmes. This non-exhaustive list includes Africa (e.g. Botswana, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Morocco, Tunisia, Zambia, Zimbabwe); the Middle East (e.g. Jordan, Saudi Arabia) and Asia (e.g. Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, China, Philippines).
On 24 November 2015, the G33 submitted a new proposal (WT/MIN(15)/W/22; or JOB/AG/54), suggesting an amendment to the Agreement on Agriculture so that it contains a new Annex 6. This Annex 6 would give coverage to developing Members and LDCs’ current and future public stockholding for food security programmes.
The G-33’s proposal, if adopted as the permanent solution, will be a significant contribution to the improvement of international trade rules for food security.
This article was tagged: Agriculture, Ministerial Conference, World Trade Organization (WTO), WTO - MC10, WTO - MC11
