End the WTO's Attack on Agriculture!
Fight for People's Food Sovereignty!

A Position Paper of the People's Coalition on Food Sovereignty on the AoA Negotiations
and the Struggle to Take the WTO Out of Agriculture

A decade of the World Trade Organization (WTO) regime has intensified the crisis in Third World agriculture. The patently unfair provisions of the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA), which pry open the markets of underdeveloped countries for foreign corporate exploitation while facilitating developed countries' export dumping, have caused the displacement of millions of farmers, eroded income and livelihood, and increased poverty and hunger especially in the countryside.

But it seems the people's misery is not enough as developed countries led by the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) and their transnational corporations (TNCs) push for further agricultural liberalization through the renegotiation of the AoA. Although Third World governments try to fight the 'imbalance' of the AoA in the negotiations, WTO members generally talk of the AoA as if it would solve the crisis and improve the lives of small farmers and peasants if it is 'improved.'

Efforts to reform the AoA will ultimately prove futile since the agreement is fundamentally flawed due to its neoliberal framework. By putting trade as the main determinant of food and agriculture policy, the AoA destroys self-sufficiency in production and undermines people's food sovereignty. Thus, peasants and other social sectors are demanding to take the WTO out of agriculture because what they need are protection from dumping and government subsidies to improve production -- both prohibited by the WTO.

From Cancun to Hong Kong

At the core of the failure to reach consensus in the Cancun Ministerial Conference was the contentious agriculture negotiations. Third World governments banded together in groupings that challenged the developed countries and put forward their own positions on agricultural trade rules. What considerably shaped their stance in the agriculture talks was the global economic crisis aggravated by dumping of produce that depressed farmgate prices. The widespread bankruptcy of peasants and small farmers, particularly in poorer countries, has fueled the global rural unrest, which formed a tremendous pressure on governments.

The collapse of the AoA negotiations, as well as the negotiations on the Singapore issues that led to the collapse of the Ministerial Conference created a situation of crisis and instability for the WTO. The powerful countries pushing for 'free trade' while engaging in extreme protectionism have been exposed and people's rejection of the WTO agenda has become palpable more than ever.

The US and the EU moved to revive the WTO talks through the 2004 July Framework. This package of frameworks basically contained what developed countries wanted all along and what underdeveloped countries have fought against even before Cancun. It maintained the staggering domestic farm supports and export subsidies of developed countries. It was nothing but a "box-shuffling" exercise that allows the US and the EU to preserve their subsidies, and merely promised the elimination of export subsidies. The EU, US and countries such as Japan and Switzerland have even said they will not cut down their generous farm subsidies unless they get greater access to Third World markets. Liberalization was ensured with the text imposing "progressivity in tariff reductions will be achieved through deeper cuts in higher tariffs."

WTO members have gone through intense negotiations in agriculture since the approval of the July Framework. The conversion of specific duties into ad valorem equivalents has dominated the talks -- with developed countries like the EU and the G-10 (including Switzerland, Norway, Korea and Japan), which have many specific tariffs to convert, brazenly demanding commitments from Third World countries in NAMA and services in exchange for this "concession" in agriculture.

Meanwhile, key issues for Third World countries such as the Special Products and the Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) are being set aside as talks focus on tariff reduction. In November 2004, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund even attacked the special products exemptions espoused by the G-33 by saying that such "kind of policy is likely to have only very limited short-term benefits to farmers...and is counterproductive to the objective of long-run structural food security." This is despite the fact that food security in majority of underdeveloped countries was much higher in the years prior to agricultural trade liberalization.

Although negotiations continue to be difficult as contradictions arise even among developed countries and there may not be sufficient time to conclude in time for the Hong Kong Ministerial in December, powerful countries like the US and the EU are also doing their best to bridge differences, targeting to have draft modalities or "approximation" for the coming July General Council.

People's Food Sovereignty Against WTO

The demand to take the WTO out of agriculture and uphold people's food sovereignty remains the correct and just struggle in the face of the systematic attack on Third World agriculture. Food sovereignty is the people's fundamental right to determine food and agricultural policies that affect their lives and livelihood. It is the right to access and control of means of production, safe and culturally appropriate foods, and sustainable food production. It fully recognizes the right of women and other marginalized sectors.

Poverty and hunger have increased with a decade of the WTO regime. The neoliberal policies and market-oriented agricultural trading system promoted by the WTO are destroying subsistence and small farmers and restricting Third World countries from implementing a policy of food self-sufficiency. TNCs, in connivance with local ruling elite, are taking over agriculture and further depriving the poor majority of access to food as well as land and resources to produce food.

The impact on women and other marginalized sectors such as indigenous peoples has been tremendous as they become all the more deprived of access to productive resources and their knowledge resulting from years of experience are stolen by TNCs through patents, which are protected under the WTO's Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

People's food sovereignty is the people's alternative and weapon against corporate control in food and agriculture. The People's Coalition on Food Sovereignty, a coalition of hundreds of peasants, agricultural workers, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples and other grassroots organizations as well as non-government groups, strongly rejects agricultural liberalization and calls on governments of Third World countries to uphold the welfare of the people and not kowtow to the interests of developed countries and their TNCs.

Stop liberalization and export dumping!

In the on-going AoA negotiations, the People's Coalition on Food Sovereignty urges governments of underdeveloped countries to oppose the extraction of more market access commitments from them and demand the immediate elimination of all forms of direct and indirect export subsidies of rich countries. Further, it is imperative that the US and its allies are prevented from railroading a consensus in the General Council meeting this July that will guarantee the success of the neoliberal agenda in the Hong Kong Ministerial. International communities must join hands in opposing the Ministerial meeting in December and heighten protests within countries and regions.

WTO out of agriculture!

People's lives and livelihoods depend on agriculture so it should not be subjected to the unjust rules of the WTO. Agreements such as the AoA and the TRIPS should be kept out of agriculture and food production. Unless the trading system is genuinely transformed and fair trade is promoted, trade regimes, whether multilateral, regional or bilateral, have no place in food and agriculture.

Dismantle corporate control!

True agrarian reform must be implemented to empower the farmers and food producers. The monopoly and stranglehold of agro-chemical and agribusiness corporations must be ended by dismantling their control over inputs, technology and production. The patenting of life forms and biopiracy should also be firmly opposed.

End poverty and hunger!

Only with the assertion of people's food sovereignty can the vicious circle of poverty and hunger be broken. The state should restore protection through tariffs and import restrictions and provide subsidies and other support to farmers and producers. Countries must promote self-sufficiency and limit their dependence on food imports. Hunger will be ended when people have access to safe, nutritious and affordable food. To ensure access to food, people's income and livelihood must be assured and defended. #