Abstract

The study explores the link between WTO's trade liberalization policy on agriculture and food security in West Africa. Specifically, it investigates whether the policy undermines food security in the subregion by examining its impacts on food importation and food dumping. The study relied mainly on documentary evidence. Data were scooped from documents and annual publications of the WTO, UNCTAD, FAO, ECOWAS, and World Bank. Data were analysed using content analysis, rooted on logical deductions. The results of data analysis show that the increased dependency on international trade (as being championed by the WTO) by many countries in West Africa has a number of direct and indirect implications on the realization of food security in the subregion. Importation not only exposes producers and consumers to increased vulnerability both to worsening terms of trade and to fluctuations in commodity prices, but also exposes the domestic food-producing industries to danger of extinction through steep competition. The study also found that relying on international trade for food supply encourages dumping of the excess products on developing countries at relatively cheaper prices. This harms domestic production and reduces the income of domestic farmers and other investors in the food production chain.

Highlights

  • Trade liberalization is a cardinal principle of the World Trade Organization (WTO), though its origin could be traced to the structural adjustment programmes of the international financial institutions (The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)) in their attempts to incorporate developing countries into the capitalist development paradigm

  • This paper demonstrated that WTO’s trade liberalization policy on agriculture has not improved food security in West Africa

  • It has undermined food security in the subregion. This conclusion is based on the results of empirical evidence and data analysis which indicated that local food production has been on the decrease while food importation and dumping are on the increase

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Summary

Introduction

Trade liberalization is a cardinal principle of the World Trade Organization (WTO), though its origin could be traced to the structural adjustment programmes of the international financial institutions (The World Bank and the IMF) in their attempts to incorporate developing countries into the capitalist development paradigm. With the exception of Nigeria that its main trade commodity in the international market is crude oil, agriculture constitutes the major trade commodity between West African countries and the rest of the world It is a vital factor in efforts by the region to combat poverty and food insecurity. Available evidence suggests that trade liberalization, instead of addressing these issues as promised by the international financial institutions, reinforces them This is because the policy promotes unfair trade practices such as dumping, which undermines food security in developing countries. The link between WTO’s trade liberalization policy on agriculture and food security problems in West African countries is yet to be adequately explored and given systematic treatment in extant literature.

Materials and methods
Overview of WTO’s trade liberalization policy
Conclusion
Findings
Recommendations
Full Text
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