JOB/AG/173  
 
25 November 2019  
(19-7998) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Agriculture  
Special Session  Original: English  
 
AFRICAN GROUP ELEMEN TS ON AGRICULTURE  
FOR MEANINGFUL DEVEL OPMENT OUTCOMES  AT  
THE TWELFTH MINISTER IAL CONFERENCE  
COMMUNICATION FROM B ENIN ON BEHALF OF TH E AFRICAN GROUP  
The following communi cation, dated 22 November 2019, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Benin of behalf of the African Group . 
 
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• Agriculture is a vital sector for achieving Africa' s aspirations to growth and development. 
Agriculture contributes b y almost 15% to the total GDP of the continent, creating job 
opportunities for almost half of its working force, and therefore Agriculture for Africa is a matter 
of food security, employment, income and mere existence.  
• The negotiations on Agriculture in th e DDA are therefore of paramount importance to the African 
Group. It is widely known that Agriculture remains the most trade -distorted sector in the context 
of WTO rules. Hence, reforming the agricultural rules is a critical development outcome in the 
DDA. 
• The African Group reiterates its position that discussions on reforming the Agreement on 
Agriculture  (AoA)  in particular and the World Trade Organization in general shall be revolving 
around the means to make the rules more development oriented and respon sive to the challenges 
our continent is facing. Therefore, our priority in Agriculture negotiations is to correct the 
historical imbalances in the AoA in a manner that would enable our countries to respond to the 
challenges of food security compounded by c limate change.  
1  DOMESTIC SUPPORT  
1.1.  Substantial reductions of trade -distorting Domestic Support as stipulated in Article 20 of the 
AoA and as per the Doha mandate is a priority for Africa. African small farmers have been struggling 
to keep up with unfair compe tition with imported heavily subsidized agricultural products.  
1.2.  On product -specific support, Members with scheduled AMS entitlements shall apply a cap on 
their product -specific support beyond de minimis  based on the average of the last three  years figures 
notified to the Committee on Agriculture. A commitment will be made to further reduce the amount 
of product -specific support beyond de minimis  as a percentage of the product 's value of production  
(VoP) , with a view to reaching the percentage s stipulated in Article 6.4 of the AoA by the year XXXX.  
1.3.  Products subject to product -specific support which is on average during the last three  years 
notified to the Committee on Agriculture below de minimis , shall not receive support in excess of 
the val ues stipulated in Article 6.4 of the AoA. 
1.4.  On Blue Box support, Members commit to set a specific end date for the existing programs 
classified as Blue Box support under Article 6.5 of the AoA and notify it to the Committee on 
Agriculture. End dates of all p rograms under this box shall be no later than the year XXXX. Upon the JOB/AG/173  
 
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  notified end date, any continuation or renewal of existing programs as well as any new programs 
shall not be exempted from reduction commitments.  
1.5.  On Green Box support, stricter discipli nes – as stipulated in paragraph 5.3 below  – are to be 
applied on the usage of support provided for in paragraphs 5 -13 of Annex 2 to ensure that it meets 
the criteria of being no or minimally trade distorting. A cap is to be applied on the usage of the Gre en 
Box support with respect to measures within the scope of paragraphs 5 -13 of Annex 2 of the AoA. 
1.6.  Support provided for under Article 6.2 of the AoA remains critical to the African Group and shall 
remain unchanged.  
1.7.  Special and Differential Treatment to dev eloping countries shall be an integral part of any 
outcome. LDCs, NFIDCs and Developing Members with no scheduled AMS entitlements shall be 
exempted from any further reduction commitments.  
2  COTTON  
2.1.  Cotton is a central development issue and must be resolved a mbitiously, expeditiously and 
specifically.  
2.2.  Negotiations on Cotton are to be pursued in an accelerated manner on the basis of the 
Communication by the Co -Sponsors of the Sectoral Initiative on Cotton in document 
TN/AG/GEN/49/Rev.1  – TN/AG/SCC/GEN/20/Rev.1, with the view of reaching a meaningful outcome 
on Cotton by MC12.  
3  PUBLIC STOCKHOLDING FOR FOOD SECURITY PU RPOSES  (PSH)  
3.1.  According to the FAO 's 2019 "State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World ", it was found 
that Hunger is on t he rise in almost all African sub -regions, making Africa the region with the highest 
prevalence of undernourishment, at almost 20 % as compared to a world average of 10.8 %. A 
situation that is forecasted to be more challenging over the coming years due to c limate change.  
3.2.  A Permanent Solution for PSH by developing countries is to be agreed latest by MC12 . Programs 
under the Permanent Solution are to be excluded from the calculation of Members ' Aggregate 
Measurement of Support.  
3.3.  The Permanent Solution shall cov er existing as well as future PSH programs for foodstuffs, and 
it shall not define a ceiling to the quantity or value procured.  
3.4.  Developing Members undertaking programs under the Permanent Solution shall ensure that 
stocks procured under such programs do no t distort trade or adversely affect the food security of 
other Members. In addition, developing Members undertaking programs under the Permanent 
Solution shall ensure that no exports are made from products benefiting from this provision.  
3.5.  The application of  PSH programs shall be carried out in a transparent manner, and the 
developing Member undertaking such programs should upon request hold consultations with other 
Members on the operation of its PSH programs. Transparency requirements shall be conducted in a 
manner that would not impose onerous burdens on developing countries and especially LDCs and 
NFIDCs.  
4  SPECIAL SAFEGUARD ME CHANISM  (SSM)  
4.1.  African countries have been subject to massive and repetitiv e import surges, resulting over the 
years and in the absence of any means to safeguard the market in substantial reductions in 
production mounting in some cases to more than 50% decrease, and the loss of numerous jobs.  
4.2.  Members are to intensify the discussi ons in the dedicated session on SSM of the Committee on 
Agriculture in Special Session with the view of concluding the negotiations on the SSM by MC12.  JOB/AG/173  
 
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  4.3.  The Mechanism shall cover both price -based and volume -based triggers with no a priori  product 
limitation s as to its availability, and it shall be easily applied by developing countries, with flexible 
time limits for application to address the needs of the developing Member utilizing the mechanism.  
4.4.  The operation of the SSM shall be carried out in a transparen t manner, and the Member 
invoking the SSM should afford any interested Member the opportunity to consult with it in respect 
of the conditions of application of the measure. Transparency requirements shall be conducted in a 
manner that would not impose oner ous burden on developing countries and especially LDCs and 
NFIDCs.  
5  TRANSPARENCY  
5.1.  The VoP of each product subject to product -specific AMS support beyond de minimis shall be 
notified to the Committee on Agriculture on an annual basis to monitor the Members ' compliance 
with their reduction commitments.  
5.2.  The end dates of the existing programs listed under the Blue Box support of Article 6.5 shall 
be identified and notified to the Committee on Agriculture. In addition, the VoP of products subject 
to Blue Box suppo rt shall be notified annually to the Committee on Agriculture, along with the values 
of production of the two years precedent to the notification, in order to examine the production 
limiting nature of such programs.  
5.3.  The base periods for programs under para graphs 5 -13 of Annex 2 of the AoA shall be defined, 
fixed and unchanging, and they shall be notified to the Committee on Agriculture, along with – to 
the extent applicable  – a list of the products eligible for each program notified under Annex 2 of the 
AoA. 
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