Tag Archives: agricultural policies

Between Transition, WTO and EU Accession, Agriculture and Agricultural Policies in Formerly Centrally Planned Countries

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By Johan F. M. Swinnen

Fifteen years after the Berlin Wall fell and signaled the beginning of a vast set of changes throughout the countries of the former Soviet Bloc, eight Central and Eastern European countries (CEEGs) will become members of the European Union (EU). They affected society in a multitude of ways. They affected the way the political and economic system operated but also the social organization of society, the psychology of the people living in the countries, and the culture of day to day life.

This paper reviews the state of agriculture and of agricultural policies in the formerly centrally planned economies of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. All countries went through profound economic and institutional transitions, with important consequences for the organization of their agri-food systems, output, and productivity, as well as government policies. However, after ten years of transition the economies and policies differ significantly among countries. In addition, the international institutional environment which they face differs.

Eight countries in central and Eastern Europe have made significant progress in economic and institutional reforms and will join the EU in 2004. This will have profound implications for their agriculture, as they will be integrated in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the EU.

This paper summarizes key developments in the agri-food sector as wells in agricultural policies. The paper focuses on how opening up to global forces and changes in trading regimes and integration in international institutions has affected the economies and policies, and which are key policy issues for the future. A key argument of the paper is that, in order to understand the political effects of access to international markets and integration in regional and multi lateral agreements, it is crucial to understand the structural characteristics of the transition economies, and how they have been affected by the transition process. For this reason the author begins with key aspects of the transition process, before turning to more specific international issues. Attention is given to such topics decline and growth during transition, subsidies and farm support, structural reforms and productivity growth in this initial section. The focus of the paper then centers on international aspects of transition. Such economic topics detailed are migration, capital flows, and foreign direct investment.
The remaining sections of the paper summarize recent International agreements and conclude with a discussion of the economic role and impact of member states upon EU enlargement.

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Lack Of Sound Agricultural Policies By Nations

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A lack of sound agricultural policies by nations is the major drawback to achieving global food security. Food security according to the November 1996 world food submit plan for Action exists when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary need and food preferences for an active and healthy life. However, the reports, published last November, draw attention to agriculture with a caseload of good news stories on improving food security. The report by the food and agricultural organization titled “Pathways to Success” looks at initiative that have improve food security and new measure taken in the last year’s global recession. The united states-based international food policy research Institute uses it book, “Million Fed” to look at a mix food security success stories over a period of years many which are driven by non-governmental organizations and communities.

The 2008 food price crisis and the world growing population have brought food security to the top of international agenda.

An earlier FAO {Food and Agricultural Organization} had noted that farmers would need to feed a projected population of 9.1 billion in 2050. The key regions that require urgent action to reduce food insecurity and build adaptation capacity, the report said then, were central, East and West Africa, many countries in southwest Asia, the highlands in south America and certain region of central America and the carribear, However, the pathway to success which is an indepth look at 16 countries that have made some headway in reducing the number of hungry people, says the grim global figures hide the fact that the number of hungry people has been declining during the fifteen years period from 1991-2005. infact the report explains that among the 79 countries whose food security status is monitored regularly by FAO, 31 countries exhibited a trend decline in the number of undernourished during the period. Of these, it notes that, eight have already halved both the proportion and number of undernourished, this achieving both the MDG and world food submit target for 2015. Five have achieved just the MDG target, and three other are on track to achieve both targets by 2015. The report analyses for examples of countries that are on track to achieve 2015 food security targets: Nigeria, America, Brazil and Vietnam, Based on these examples, therefore the study argues that success in the battle to halve hunger will usually be characterized by creation of an environment for economic growth and human well being, outreach to the most vulnerable and investment in the rural poor, protection of grains and planning for a sustainable future.