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The final blueprint of agriculture text for the mini-Ministerial beginning July 21, 2008, is finally out. The draft text is indicative of the final position around which the search for the landing Zone would begin. Eighteen papers have been circulated since the negotiations started following the suspension of the Doha Round in July 2006. The current position is the outcome of a series of meetings, discussions, and constant feedback from various global organisations about the probable impact on different countries. Agricultural Negotiation Committee Chairman Crawford Falconer has been careful on each sub-pillar before he circulated the final text for the Ministerial meet.
Though the current draft on agriculture is definitely an improvement over the text circulated in July 2006, it still does not sufficiently address the concerns of the developing countries. The biggest challenge that will confront negotiators is the horizontal process while balancing NAMA and Agriculture. The development over the years on various aspects clearly indicates that with more discussions better development-friendly positions are emerging and any haste in clinching a partial deal will leave the development issues fairly unaddressed and unbalanced. Furthermore, it is important to understand how the current position affects agricultural trade gains of developing countries that deserve a better deal. The current brief tries to assess the development content of the present blueprint which has emerged after a ‘walk in the woods’!
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The current spurt in food prices has snowballed into a global food crisis, which stems from multiple reasons like depletion in food stocks, rise in crude oil prices, climate change etc. The consequences of food prices have a cascading impact on the economy fuelling inflation besides restraining MDG goals and political turmoil. Along with the rise in food prices, the fuel prices have skyrocketed crossing all limits, from 2002 it has increased six times and is expected to scale further. The rising cost of inputs linked to the increase in oil prices is another important factor adding to the farmers' woes. The current policy brief tries to explore some critical factors linking food prices, biofuels and international trade.
It is clearly evident that the modern food system is dependent on crude oil and with energy shortage and environment concerns boiling high there is a strong urge to reduce the escalating crude oil prices by growing biofuels, which is ushering a new era of green revolution, a new development paradigm and a solution to the twin problems of poverty and climate change. However, biofuel can bring clear shift in food economics if the profit in fuel crops rule higher than growing food crops. Keeping these sensitivities, India's biodiesel policies are still under suspension and current brief tries to bring to fore development impacts of biofuels in the context of trade and food prices.
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Since its coming into being, UNCTAD has had two avatars . In its first avatar , until late 1980s, UNCTAD was seen as an important tool in creating the developing countries a more balanced international trading system to realise their goal of development. Then from 1990s onwards, it underwent a remarkable change as far as its structure and vision are concerned. The Midrand conference restructured UNCTAD's intergovernmental role by changing the funding pattern and mode of functioning curtailing the number of meetings and publications. This was its second avatar .
Since then, UNCTAD has lost its identity and development role it performs. The recently concluded UNCTAD XII conference held between 20-25 April 2008 at Accra began with a different purpose of extending the benefits of globalisation. The Accra Accord talks of policy diversity to help individual countries attain their development priorities and objectives, and the specific policies and practices should be based on detailed rigorous diagnostic analysis. Further, national strategies of development should take into account the needs and circumstances of each country. It suggests many trade policies to fill the wide gaps arose out of lack of technical capacities and more specific diagnostic research needs. From UNCTAD's view, though the Accra Declaration has come about advocating wide policy recommendation, the funding structure, which determines its mandate and support, and research prioritisation seem inadequate to address the growing needs in a globalising world.
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