FAO in Geneva

New Paper: Policy space for sustainable agriculture in the World Trade Organization agreement on agriculture

30/10/2020

Sustainable growth in Agriculture is not only a national priority in all countries but a global endeavor as well, particularly to achieve the SDG-2. There are, however, some perceptions that rules of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) agreements may hinder policy space in this regard. This information note prepared by Mr. Ahmad Mukhtar, FAO Economist (Trade and Food Security) attempts to outline the relevant rules on domestic support (subsidies) in the WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) and highlights the available policy space with Member Countries to support the sustainable agriculture. It shows that the provisions under Development Box and Green Box provide, essentially, an unlimited allowance for subsidizing agriculture subject to criteria defined therein. Read the new Paper "Policy space for sustainable agriculture in the World Trade Organization agreement on agriculture" here