WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/AG/NG/W/97
29 December 2000
(00-5621)
Committee on Agriculture
Special SessionOriginal:  English
WTO NEGOTIATIONS ON AGRICULTURE:  PROPOSALS BY SMALL ISLAND
DEVELOPING STATES (SIDS)
Communication from Dominica, Jamaica, Mauritius, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and
the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago
Introduction1. The preamble to the Uruguay Round Agreemen t on Agriculture (AoA) states that "…
commitments under the reform programme should be made in an equitable way among all Members,having regard to non-trade concerns, including food security and the need to protect the environment,
having regard to the agreement that special and di fferential treatment for developing countries is an
integral element of the negotiations, and taking into account the possible negative effects of the
implementation of the reform programme on least-developed and net food-importing developing
countries".
2. In the letter and the spirit of this preamble, countries co-sponsoring this submission stress the
need to draw specific attention to the constraints which impact negatively on Members' capacities to
achieve an equitable share in new market opportunities arising from the Uruguay Round.  This
submission highlights, in particular, the structural weaknesses that small island developing countries
face in their efforts to ensure that multilateral liberalization of the agricultural sector would improve
their small share of international trade.
The case of Small Island Developing States
1
3. In the case of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), their general weakness in agricultural
production is a direct consequence of diseconomy of scale, diseconomy of scope, and high unit costs
of input factors and transport, that are inherent to SIDS-specific characteristics, such as smallness,
remoteness, geographical dispersion, vulnerability to natural disasters, scarcity of resources (land,water, human resources and other input factors).
4. These structural difficulties have restricted SIDS from achieving the level of international
competitivity that would allow for their effective pa rticipation in international agricultural trade.  As
indicated in a statistical background paper prepar ed by the Secretariat (G/AG/NG/S/11/ Add.1), the
participation of the 41 SIDS in world trade has been limited to 2.5 per cent of the world totalagricultural exports in the period 1995-1998.
2  This is a downward trend and requires remedial
measures such as the binding of certain quota allocations.  Structural weaknesses have also limited
SIDS' ability to take advantage of new trading opportunities, in particular as regards market access
                                                     
1 At present, forty-one small island developing States and territories are included in the list used by the
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in monitoring the progress in the implementation of
the Barbados Programme of Action.
2 Table 1 in The Effects of the Reduction Commitments on World Trade in Agriculture , Statistical
Background Paper by the Secretariat, Addendum (G/AG/NG/S/11/Add.1).G/AG/NG/W/97
Page 2
under the Uruguay Round.  It must be noted that because of their inherent constraints, it would be
extremely difficult for SIDS to be able to achieve higher levels of competitivity.
Market access
5. Most SIDS rely on one or two agricultural primary products for their export earnings.  Those
agricultural exports are made possible by non-reciprocal preferential trading arrangements, but
preferential margins are being rapidly eroded by MFN tariff liberalization.  The status of those
arrangements, a stable and predictable source of export earnings, is becoming increasingly uncertain
in the multilateral trading framework.  The loss of such acquis  would impose on developing countries,
in particular SIDS, heavy adjustme nt costs over a long-term period.
6. In addition to the erosion of preferential tariff margins, agricultural exports of developing
countries equally face a host of non-tariff barriers such as complex and administratively cumbersomerules of origin, as well as sanitary and phytosanitary requirements and technical standards that are
often more stringent than internationally approved guidelines and standards.  These onerous
requirements are invariably beyond the administrative and technical capability of SIDS.
Proposal:
• SIDS should be provided with security of access for the one or two commodities which they are
able to produce on a commercial basis.
• Non-reciprocal preferential tariff rates provided to  developing countries, in particular SIDS, in the
agricultural sector should be improved and bound under the framework of the AoA while thereform process is underway, with a view to ensuring that existing access conditions are not
undermined by the continuation of the reform process.
• Where a free-trade area or a customs union involving SIDS and developed countries is
established, the "substantially all the trade" provision given in the GATT Article XXIV should not
apply.
• Given the very small size and fragility of the productive sectors of SIDS, which are invariably
NFIDCs, they should not be obliged to provide reciprocal access for their agricultural exportsunder preferential trading arrangements with developed countries.
• Market access opportunities under the AoA should ensure that certain percentage increases in
minimum access tariff rate quotas (TRQs) will be allocated with 0 per cent within-quota rate toSIDS.  Specific duty-free TRQs outside minimum access quotas should also be provided to SIDS.
• Negotiations should address the need for establishing a framework to ensure the provision of
technical assistance to developing countries,  in particular SIDS, for meeting the costs of
compliance with SPS measures and technical standards (e.g. costs to obtain certification, costs
incurred from delays in authorization) in the international market.  Developing countries,
including SIDS, should also be assisted with a view to enabling their participation in the activities
of international standard-setting bodies.
Food insecurity
7. Food insecurity is intrinsic to SIDS-specific characteristics.  In Barbados, for example,
approximately 74 per cent of all food consumed  is sourced through imports, amounting to US$ 320
per person per annum.  The ratio of the value of Barbados' imports to its exports deteriorated from3.18:1 in 1990-1994 to 3.33:1 in 1996-1998.
3
                                                     
3 UNCTAD, Report of the Expert Meeting on the Impact of Reform Process in Agriculture on LDCs
and NFIDCs and Ways to Address their C oncerns in Multilateral Trade Negotiations  (TD/B/COM 1/EM.11/3),
August 2000.G/AG/NG/W/97
Page 3
8. The relief expected from the implementation of the Marrakesh Decision has not occurred.
9. Furthermore, much of domestically produced agricultural products in SIDS face cost
disadvantages vis-à-vis  imported products due to structural characteristics of SIDS.  Many of the
SIDS which had unilaterally undertaken deregulation and liberalization of the agricultural sector
experienced a sharp increase in imports which resulted in a substantial reduction in domesticproduction, further increasing food insecurity.
Proposal
• Small farmers in LDCs, NFIDCs and other devel oping countries, including SIDS, need to be
protected against import surges particularly when the latter affect the production of key staples of
the domestic diet and negatively impact on rural development and poverty alleviation.  To meet
this need, use of the special safeguard provision should be allowed.
• With regard to actions under the Ministerial Decision on Measures Concerning the Possible
Negative Effects of the Reform Programme on Least-Developed and Net Food-Importing
Developing Countries, separate mechanisms should be formulated for operationalizing the
provision of financial and technical assistance, including the transfer of relevant agricultural
technology (for example, the accessing of new seed  varieties), to LDCs and NFIDCs to improve
agricultural productivity in those countries, as well as for short-term mitigation programmes to
address negative effects of the liberalization process.
• Whenever agricultural production is severely damaged through natural disasters, which occur
frequently in SIDS, the latter's obligations under the AoA should be waived until recovery isachieved.
Unevenness in the degree of trade liberalization
10. SIDS have gone through extensive unilateral deregulation and liberalization of their
agricultural sector in the last decade, mainly under structural adjustment programmes of the Bretton-
Woods institutions.  The degree of such unilateral liberalization often exceeded the requirements of
the Uruguay Round commitments.  The applied tariff rates of SIDS in the period 1995-1999 were
substantially below their WTO bound rates.  Openness to the world market is thus far greater than thatexhibited by many other countries.
Proposal
• SIDS  which undertook unilateral deregulation and liberalization in the agricultural sector should
be exempted from further reduction commitments on support and protection.  Whilst the financial
constraints of SIDS make it difficult for them to provide support measures currently, thispossibility should not be excluded as revenue through agriculture increases.  Those SIDS which
entered into the commitments under the AoA during Structural Adjustment Programmes should
be allowed to receive a higher de minimis  level on domestic support and to renegotiate the AoA
commitments on market access, such that the commitments reflect the long-term development
policy objective of those countries rather than their short-term financial circumstances.
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