SEN ANGARA ASKS RICH COUNTRIES:
‘Help fight food crisis; scrap subsidies, lower tariffs’
By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 15:24:00 05/07/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- Rich countries can help solve the ongoing world food crisis by removing their own agriculture subsidies and lowering tariffs, Senator Edgardo Angara told the 16th session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development in New York.
In his speech, a copy of which was provided INQUIRER.net, the former agriculture secretary set as an example the Philippines, which he said is "now one of the most vulnerable countries in the global rice crisis."
Once a net exporter of agricultural products, the Philippines’ accession into the World Trade Organization (WTO) slowed down exports and accelerated imports.
Before the WTO, the Philippines "enjoyed a trade surplus in agriculture, averaging US$157 million a year from 1985 to 1994. Upon accession to the WTO in 1995, its export earnings grew by only 0.18 percent a year on average, while imports ballooned by 8.5 percent a year," he said.
"Total agricultural exports in 2006 amounted to US$2.8 billion, while total agricultural imports went higher by 8.5 percent to US$4.3 billion in 2006," he added.
Angara told the international body that the agricultural trade situation in the Philippines reflects a trend among developing countries.
He admitted that while climate change, increased demand for food, stimulus from mandates for biofuels, urbanization, and weak agricultural policies contributed to the food crisis, the "imbalances between rich and poor countries in international agricultural trade" is more to blame.
"Such inequities stem from substantial protectionism in rich countries, as well as from inequities introduced as part of the 1994 Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture,” he said. “As a result, 70 percent of both world exports and imports are exchanged among developed countries. Developing countries do not only have a smaller share of world agricultural trade but they also have deteriorating balance of trade between exports and imports."
The first solution, according to Angara, is for rich countries to remove export subsidies and reduce domestic subsidies.
"In 2005, the OECD countries' combined agriculture subsidies amounted to US$385.2 billion -- this is twice the Philippines's gross national product last year," he said.
Angara noted that such subsidies, which the WTO wants to do away with, have been going on for a long time.
He also urged multilateral institutions and developed countries to prioritize funding to agriculture.
"Agriculture is the single most vital instrument for poverty reduction. Over three-fourths of the world's poor live in rural areas in developing countries. Every dollar worth of improvement in a country's GDP that is agriculture-driven is four times more effective in reducing poverty than GDP growth originating in other sectors," he said.
However, he said, international assistance for agricultures has been falling for the past 20 years, from to 18 percent in 1979 to 3.5 per cent in 2004.
"The food crisis that is gripping the world is a wake up call for both rich and poor countries. Let us then join hands to rectify this gross trade imbalance; let us re-vitalize our agricultural and rural development programs and make these viable; let us remember our farmers, especially those who live on subsistence crops; and let us recognize that we are all in this together and a leak in any part of the boat will sink us all. After all, food is our common ground," he said.
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