| Agreement On Agriculture |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT AGREEMENT ON AGRICULTURE | |
| world trade organization | |
| agriculture | |
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THREE PILLARS The AoA has three central concepts, or "pillars": domestic support, market access and export subsidies. Domestic support The first pillar of the AoA is "domestic support". The AoA structures domestic support ( Subsidies ) into three categories or "boxes": a Green Box, an Amber Box and a Blue Box. The Green Box contains fixed payments to producers for environmental programs, so long as the payments are "decoupled" from current production levels. The Amber Box contains domestic subsidies that governments have agreed to reduce but not eliminate. The Blue Box contains subsidies which can be increased without limit, so long as payments are linked to production-limiting programs. {Link without Title} The AoA's domestic support system currently allows . Market Access "Market access" is the second pillar of the AoA, and refers to the reduction of Tariff (or non-tariff) barriers to trade by WTO member-states. The 1995 AoA required tariff reductions of:
Least Developed Countries (LDCs) were exempted from tariff reductions, but either had to convert non–tariff barriers to tariffs—a process called Tariffication —or "bind" their tariffs, creating a "ceiling" which could not be increased in future. Export subsidies "Export subsidies" is the third pillar of the AoA. The 1995 AoA required Developed Countries to reduce export subsidies by at least 35% (by value) or by at least 21% (by volume) over the five years to 2000. Criticism The AoA is criticised for reducing Tariff protections for small farmers – a key source of income for Developing Countries – while allowing rich countries to continue pay their farmers massive subsidies which developing countries cannot afford. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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