NEGOTIATIONS ON AGRICULTURAL TRADE LIBERALIZATION: THE TUG OF WAR BETWEEN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION

A DYNAMIC AGRICULTURAL SECTOR IS CRUCIAL FOR ECONOMICgrowth, poverty alleviation, and food security in developing countries. Although primary agricultural activities are declining over time as a share of the economy, they still represent about one-fourth of total economic activity and 60 percent of total employment in low-income developing countries. Primary and processed food products account for about 20 percent of these countries’ merchandise trade. Moreover, of the 1.2 billion people living on less than US$1 a day, about 75 percent live and work in rural areas in developing countries (Stiglitz, 2000). Despite its importance, agricultural growth in developing countries has been hampered over the years by a series of factors. First, as developing countries sought to industrialize their economies, they usually taxed agriculture (Maskus and Lahouel, 2000). The bias against agriculture in developing countries also hurt the poor, who often depended heavily on that sector for income an