Trade Policy Note Final-rev08 - Development

safeguard measures on agricultural imports, these are often to be removed at the end
of the phase - in period of the FTA. Paradoxically, some FTAs among developing
countries target selected agricultural products for an “early harvest”, while other
agricultural products have been placed on sensitive or excluded lists. The various
considerations involved in the “FTA option” are examined in Section X.
Gender and Agricultural Trade
The gender aspects of agricultural pr oduction are particularly complex, and therefore
the effects of various agreements on the employment of women in the agricultural
sector are also complex. Men and women in developing countries have different roles:
the majority of women are engaged in subs istence agriculture and are responsible for
food security in the household, while men are concentrated in the sector producing
export crops. The liberalization of imports of agricultural products tends to
disadvantage women producing subsistence food. 61
In summary, pro-poor policy positions in negotiations on trade in agriculture should,
at a minimum, include:
(a) acceleration of agreed elimination of export subsidies,
(b) substantial reduction in trade distorting subsidies ( amber and blue boxes),
(c) reduction in tariffs and increase in TRQs in markets of developed countries,
(d) right to SP for developing countries,
(e) rights to SSM for developing countries,
(f) technical and financial assistance to meet SPS regulations
61 See UNCTAD, “Trade and Gender: Opportunities, Challenges and the Policy Dimension”,
UNCTAD/TD/392, 2004, para. 25 (http://www.unctad.org/en/docs/edm20042_en.pdf ).
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