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The Marginalisation of African Agrigultural Trade and Development: A Case Study of the WTO'S Efforts to Cater to African Agricultural Trading Interests Particularly Cotton and Sugar

The Marginalisation of African Agrigultural Trade and Development: A Case Study of the WTO'S... GULED YUSUF∗ I. INTRODUCTION The overarching purpose of the WTO is the management and liberalisation of international trade. The most consequential and politically sensitive markets addressed by the WTO are, in the view of African countries, those related to the agricultural sector. Prior to the establishment of the WTO in 1995 attempts were made to liberalise agricultural trade, through its predecessor the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, in the Kennedy and Tokyo Rounds, but they failed primarily due to the unwillingness of the European Union to modify the protection afforded by its Common Agricultural Policy.1 Since the 1980s, liberalisation of agriculture has become a litmus test for many countries of the possibility of achieving any reform of the multilateral trade system2 since the future of about 350 million small farms and their dependents in low- and middleincome countries depends upon improved access to well-functioning markets.3 As expressed by one author, ‘The longer a gross imbalance against agriculture in the international trading system remained the greater was the threat to the credibility of an international trading system committed to non-discriminatory treatment and maximising opportunities for trade’.4 The issue of agricultural trade liberalisation has therefore become extremely decisive for http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png African Journal of International and Comparative Law Edinburgh University Press

The Marginalisation of African Agrigultural Trade and Development: A Case Study of the WTO'S Efforts to Cater to African Agricultural Trading Interests Particularly Cotton and Sugar

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Publisher
Edinburgh University Press
Copyright
© Edinburgh University Press 2009
Subject
Articles; African Studies
ISSN
0954-8890
eISSN
1755-1609
DOI
10.3366/E0954889009000383
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

GULED YUSUF∗ I. INTRODUCTION The overarching purpose of the WTO is the management and liberalisation of international trade. The most consequential and politically sensitive markets addressed by the WTO are, in the view of African countries, those related to the agricultural sector. Prior to the establishment of the WTO in 1995 attempts were made to liberalise agricultural trade, through its predecessor the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, in the Kennedy and Tokyo Rounds, but they failed primarily due to the unwillingness of the European Union to modify the protection afforded by its Common Agricultural Policy.1 Since the 1980s, liberalisation of agriculture has become a litmus test for many countries of the possibility of achieving any reform of the multilateral trade system2 since the future of about 350 million small farms and their dependents in low- and middleincome countries depends upon improved access to well-functioning markets.3 As expressed by one author, ‘The longer a gross imbalance against agriculture in the international trading system remained the greater was the threat to the credibility of an international trading system committed to non-discriminatory treatment and maximising opportunities for trade’.4 The issue of agricultural trade liberalisation has therefore become extremely decisive for

Journal

African Journal of International and Comparative Law – Edinburgh University Press

Published: Sep 1, 2009

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