The 7^th session of the FAO Agriculture Trade Talks (FTT) was held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva and discussed the linkages between agriculture and services trade and how could it enable new growth opportunities, particularly for developing countries and LDCs.

Mr. Rodrigue Vinet, Senior Adviser, FAO Liaison Office in Geneva, welcomed the participants and highlighted that, started in 2018, the FAO Agriculture Trade Talks series has become a useful platform for delegates and other trade policy stakeholders to come together and reflect on the latest trends in agriculture markets and trade.  FAO Trade Talks are designed to be Informal, Interactive and Inspirational (3I’s).

This, 7^th session launched the FAO Technical Paper titled “Synergy between Agriculture and Services Trade: Enabling New Growth Opportunities”.  The paper “explores linkages between Agriculture and Services trade as well as how the deployment of various services could foster food security and help achieving Sustainable Development Goal number 2 (Achieving Zero Hunger),” Vinet highlighted.

In introducing the paper, Mr. Ahmad Mukhtar, Economist, FAO, highlighted the need for addressing agriculture and services trade from a more holistic approach. “Services are important at all stages of the food value chain, from the credit farmers need to invest in inputs, through to the processing and distribution of finished goods,” he said. He also highlighted the importance of digitalization and innovation are key for boosting agricultural productions and improving food systems to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The aim of this paper is to help trade policy professionals in “expanding the scope of discussions and approaches on agriculture and services trade, and how to better achieve growth in agriculture sector of small and less-integrated economies for global marketplace” he concluded.

Commenting on the paper, Mr. Tamás Vattai, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of Hungary to the United Nations and World Trade Organization, pointed out that services represent an important source of value added in agriculture trade. He showed examples of different countries on how services have contributed towards value addition not only for domestic markets but for exports as well. “The share of services in overall value added in agro-industry is 38% in the top 20 food export countries,” he said, with a high service content from domestic sources.

Brazil, a large agri-food producer and exporter has largely incorporated services in agriculture over the past decades. Mr. Leonardo Bento, Permanent Mission of Brazil to the WTO shared Brazil’s experiences integrating climate smart agriculture and services. A most innovative approach is the “Plantio Certo” which means “right planting” created to assist farmers and stakeholders with a digital service. This is a good example of “how we can ally services, in this case, a digital service, and agriculture with a view of improving knowledge, controlling damage and risks, and ultimately, boosting our production, he said.”

Mr. Raymond Saner, Director, CSEND, highlighted that agriculture has been relatively ignored, as an economic sector, in recent years. “There is a need to re-focus on it for food security reasons but also for general development reasons,” he said, and called for greater attention to be given to capacity building, particularly in LDCs in order to enable them to take full advantage of using services in agriculture. He appreciated the idea and rationale of this paper and urged trade policy stakeholders to explore further this topic.

Summary of the Technical Paper Synergy between agriculture and services trade: enabling new growth opportunities, could be downloaded at: http://www.fao.org/3/ca6986en/CA6986EN.pdf

Related links:

Agricultural Services and Digital Inclusion in Africa

http://www.fao.org/family-farming/detail/en/c/1105795/

*More about the FAO Geneva Agriculture Trade Talks (FTT)

FAO supports Member Countries’ effective engagement in the formulation of trade agreements that are conducive to improved food security, by strengthening evidence on the implications of changes in trade policies, providing capacity development in the use of this evidence, and facilitating neutral dialogue away from the negotiating table. In this spirit, the FAO started a dialogue series titled “FAO Geneva Agriculture Trade Talks (FTT).” 

Each session of the FTT features a presentation of FAO’s knowledge and analysis on the topic in focus, followed by an interactive discussion. On this occasion, FAO will launch its technical paper on “Synergy between Agriculture and Services Trade: Enabling New Growth Opportunities.”

Previous FAO Agriculture Trade Talks sessions focused on 1) Agriculture Export Restrictions, 2) the nexus between agriculture trade, 3) climate change and food security, 4) innovation and technology in agriculture trade, 5) Economic and social upgrading in Global Agro-food Value Chains and 6) Gender Equality in Global Agriculture Value Chains.