IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

What policies are needed so that reforms in agricultural subsidies in developed countries can translate into real benefi ts for poor farmers and for the environment in developing countries? Agricultural subsidies are one of the factors determining whether and how agriculture helps the poor in develop-ing countries to make a sustainable livelihood. Reforming the current agricultural subsidy systems in developed countries provides an opportunity to generate a number of positive impacts: ■ for poor farmers in developing countries whose ability to compete is hampered by subsidy-driven overproduction in rich countries; ■ for taxpayers and consumers in developed countries faced with rising defi cits; ■ for the environment in developed countries where subsi-dies contribute to ecosystem degradation; and, possibly