International Trade and Agriculture

Agricultural policies and agricultural trade, dominated by the interests of the North, have negative impacts on the markets of developing countries. The process of liberalization forces many developing countries to open the markets for international products.

International markets
Agriculture in the European Union and the USA is highly subsidized. Subsidized products from the North enter markets in developing countries and create unfair conditions in the competition with local farmers. For example: milk, produced by local famers in Burkina Faso and sold on domestic markets, is more expensive than imported milk powder from Europe. These dumping prices of imported products ruin local farmers´ only source of income. This process increases poverty, hunger and forces more people to migrate to cities in order to earn an income.

Access to markets
Widening access to markets in the North for agricultural products from the South should be assessed and shaped in an appropriately differentiated manner. In order to make sure that agricultural trade contributes to the eradication of poverty at global level, it is of prime importance to ensure that this trade is organised according not only to economic criteria, but also to social and environmental criteria (Market access 48 Kb). Misereor supports fair trade as an alternative concept of international trade. Developing countries should have the chance to protect their markets from dumping prices of food products in order to develop their domestic agricultural sectors. Local farmers must have the chance to trade and sell their products on a fair basis.

Ecofair trade
The ECOFAIR Trade Dialog (165 Kb) is a project carried out in cooperation with Misereor. The overall aim of this project is to enrich the debate on the reform of the current regime of global agricultural trade by developing and recommending of forward looking guidelines and instruments, taking the concept of food sovereignty and sustainable agriculture as reference points.