Contents
This paper provides answers to the following questions –
1. Government Trade policies in the agricultural sector can have both positive and negative implications for poverty alleviation in a country. To a large extent, the impact of Trade policy on national economic development is related to the ways in which trade policies – both liberal and protectionist – impact on domestic producers and consumers –
(a) The principal factors that typically influence the degree of price transmission related to border actions
(b) (using examples) the pros and cons of domestic government support measures tied to farmers’ level of production and those support measures decoupled from production
(c) Under what circumstances food aid can contribute to food security and poverty alleviation, as well as the anticipated impact on future food aid deliveries of reforms under discussion in the Doha round.
2. (PART 1) You are a tropical fruit producer in Malaysia and Thailand with your principal products being mangoes and papayas. You want to export your fruits to markets in United States and United Kingdom.
(a) Discuss value chain considerations in selling to these markets, including interactions with government regulators, logistics suppliers, NGOs, retailers and consumers.
(b) On the basis of the above, prepare a value chain map for your sector’s production and experts to these 2 markets.
PART 2 – Repeat the above exercise but this time as a producer of fast moving pachaged food products.
3. (a) Discuss the role of modern supermarkets in developing countries, in particular, their impact on processors and farmers and traditional retailers.
(b) How do government regulators and consumers affect the relative market positions of supermarkets and traditional retailers.
(c) Has the spread of supermarkets in developing countries positively or negatively affected welfare gains for local producers and consumers? How?
4. The role of private standards is becoming increasingly important in international trade of food and agricultural products. A number of market forces are influencing the rise of private standards and how they interact with public standards. Discuss –
(a) The role, importance, complementarities and interactions between public and private standards (in general)
(b) The role, importance, complementarities and interactions between public and private standards (using food safety as an example)
(c) The incentives for firms to adopt private standards, especially increasing those standards above public standards
(d) The consequences for food security and poverty reduction from the ever increasing compliance costs associated with private standards
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