Agricultural Trade and Food Security
Martin, Will | February 2017
Abstract
Agricultural trade is vitally important for achieving the goal of ending hunger by 2030 enshrined in the second Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). While trade is frequently seen as posing threats to this vitally important goal, it can in fact play a major role in achieving it. Trade helps in a number of ways, by allowing countries to take advantage of their radically different factor endowments, with land-abundant countries providing exports and land-poor countries taking advantage of much more efficiently-produced imports. Trade liberalization can also help by raising production efficiency in agriculture, allowing improvements in dietary diversity and increasing access to food. Allowing trade substantially reduces the volatility of food prices by diversifying sources of supply. By contrast, beggar-thy-neighbor policies of price insulation such as the imposition of export bans in periods of high prices redistribute, rather than reduce, volatility. However, the tendency of other countries to use price-insulating policies creates a serious collective action problem in world markets. Proposals for Special Safeguards would exacerbate these problems by adding massive duties—and creating even larger declines in world prices—during periods of already-depressed prices.
Citation
Martin, Will. 2017. Agricultural Trade and Food Security. © Asian Development Bank Institute. http://hdl.handle.net/11540/8672.Keywords
Commercial agriculture
Agriculture
Sustainable agriculture
Trade Volume
Agricultural Trade
Food Security And Trade
Regional Trade Agreements
Food Security
Agriculture
Agricultural Trade
Trade
Trade Barriers
Trade Facilitation
Sustainable agriculture
Commercial agriculture
Trade Negotiations
Trade Development
Trade And Development
Regional Trade Agreements
Agricultural Trade
Agriculture Trade Liberalization
Agroindustry
Agricultural trade
Commercial farming
Agroindustry
Sustainable development
Export volume
Export Development
Access to markets
Agricultural market
Agricultural economy
Distribution
Agricultural trade
Agricultural investment
Agricultural economy
Agricultural products
Import volume
Export volume
Tariff negotiations
Regional integration
Trade regulations
Agricultural market
Agricultural economy
Agricultural diversification
Agricultural resource
Farm produce
Land capability for agriculture
Food Supply
Rural land use
Technological innovations
Agricultural innovations
Farm supply industry
Natural resource
Adaptive natural resource management
Produce trade
Poor
Price Indexes
Integrated rural development
Cost and standard of living
Population
Crop improvement
Rice farming
Crop
Food industry
Perishable goods
Food
Agricultural resource
Farm produce
Natural products in agriculture
Plant products industry
New agricultural enterprises
Agricultural industry
Foreign trade and employment
Perishable goods
Consumer goods
Agricultural products
Agricultural industry
Food industry
Food Safety
Crop Insurance
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