Evolving An Effective Trade Policy Against Agricultural Subsidies Of Developed Countries: An Analysis Of Nigeria's Trade Policy

Abstract

Global trade as presently structured is skewed in favour of developed countries. This is as a result of a number of factors, one of which is agricultural subsidies. It is an amount paid by government to upset part of the production cost or in exporting of a product. This makes it possible for farmers in developed countries to dispose of their products at artificially low prices. The response of developing countries to this trend has been a weak and uncoordinated trade policy. They have been unable to effectively curtail the onslaught of dumping. This paper is an analysis of Nigeria's trade policy in tackling the issue of agricultural subsidies. This took the form of an in-depth assessment of the impact of agricultural subsidies, drawing from the experiences of other African countries and qualitative analysis of Nigeria's present trade policy. This revealed a lack of coordination and misplaced priorities in dealing with trade issues. A mixed strategy is suggested, that is done within the framework of a comprehensive and integrated development policy, emphasizing the importance of trade negotiations. Keywords: Trade policy, Agricultural subsidiesJOAFSS Vol. 4 (1) 2006: pp. 9-21