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- Agricultural trade liberalization in West Asia and North Africa
Agricultural trade liberalization in West Asia and North Africa
Auteur :
Minot
Nicholas,
Chemingui
Mohamed,
Thomas
Marcelle
...[ and al.]
Année de Publication :
2007
Type : Article
Thème : Commerce
Couverture :
Maroc
URL Article :
http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/9981/1/sp07mi03.pdfURL Source :
http://ageconsearch.umn.edu 
Télécharger le document :
(180,71 kB) Agricultural trade liberalization in West Asia and North Africa.pdfRésumé/Sommaire :
Although trade liberalization has reduced barriers to trade in numerous sectors, the agricultural sector remains highly protected in many countries. Most countries use a variety of measures, including tariffs, tariff rate quotas and non-technical barriers, to protect their farmers from import competition. Some countries (particularly high-income countries) provide direct support to farmers in the form of subsidized inputs and price supports. As a result, agriculture is one of the most distorted sectors in the world economy. Economic theory and most empirical studies suggest that the benefits of trade liberalization exceed the costs, at least on aggregate (Anderson, Martin and Van der Mensbrugghe 2005; USDA 2001; Beghin and Van der Mensbrugghe 2003). However, policymakers are reluctant to reduce support for their own farmers unless they are assured that other countries will reciprocate.
These issues are of interest to most developing countries because of the dependence of the rural poor on agricultural income and because of the importance of food prices to the well-being of the urban poor. This concern is even greater in the West Asia and North Africa (WANA) region because most of the countries in this region are dependent on food imports to meet consumption requirements. Furthermore, the high level of protection for farmers in the WANA region implies that full trade liberalization would have a larger impact in this region than elsewhere.
The WANA countries were characterized by relatively slow economic growth, high unemployment, and relatively high barriers to international trade and investment. While war and internal conflict certainly contribute to poor economic performance, some observers also suggest that economic growth is inhibited by barriers to international trade. On the other hand, policymakers in the region are concerned that domestic trade liberalization will adversely affect the poor, particularly small farmers. Furthermore, there is concern that global agricultural trade liberalization, by raising world agricultural prices, could adversely affect the region because almost all the countries in the region are net agricultural importers. Although there are numerous studies of the aggregate impact of trade liberalization on WANA countries, few studies have examined the impact of trade liberalization on the agricultural sector and on income distribution, with the exception of Ravallion and Lokshin (2004) on Morocco.
This article attempts to address this gap in the literature. First, we review agricultural trade patterns and previous research on thirteen WANA countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, the West Bank and Gaza, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, the Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti, and Yemen. Second, we examine the distributional impact of agricultural trade liberalization in three of these countries: Egypt, Tunisia, and Syria. For this analysis we use a combination of household survey data and computable general equilibrium (CGE) models. Third, we explore some of the reasons that these analyses show a relatively modest effect of trade policy on farm income and poverty.
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