. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/COMTD/AFT/W/17 
18 February 2010 
 (10-0898) 
Committee on Trade and Development 
Aid for Trade  
 
 
 
MAINSTREAMING AID FOR TRADE AT A THEMATIC LEVEL 
 
WORKSHOP ON AID FOR TRADE AND AGRICULTURE 
 
Background Note by the Secretariat  
  
 A workshop on Aid for Trade and Agriculture will be held at the WTO Secretariat on 
Wednesday, 17 March 2010.
1   
 I. OBJECTIVE 
1. The objective of the workshop is to look at the role that Aid for Trade can play in addressing 
supply-side constraints and trade-related infrastructure at a sectoral (or thematic) level.  The focus of 
the workshop is on how trade is being mainstr eamed into national and regional policies and donor 
support for the agriculture sector in developing co untries.  The event will be an opportunity for 
Members to: 
• relate experiences of mainstreaming trade into  national and regional agricultural development 
strategies;   
 
• examine how trade objectives are being integrat ed into development aid directed to the 
agriculture sector;  and 
 
• share information on the impact and effectiven ess of Aid for Trade in the agriculture sector.  
 2. The workshop will be based around two sessi ons.  The first session will discuss the 
challenges which Aid for Trade to the agriculture sector seeks to address and the response of the 
global community.  The second session will examine national and regional perspectives on Aid for Trade to the agriculture sector and focus on Members' experience of mainstreaming.  
II. BACKGROUND 
3. The current economic crisis and volatility in commodity markets (notably the food price crisis 
of 2008) have highlighted long standing problems of  underinvestment in the agriculture sector.  The 
World Food Summit Declaration highlighted the ke y role which the agriculture sector plays in 
relation to the achievement of the Millennium Deve lopment Goals.  The Decl aration also underlined 
that to feed a world population expected to surpass 9 billion in 2050, it is estimated that agricultural 
output will have to increase by 70 per cent.  Adaptati on to the challenge of climate change will further 
complicate this task.  Realizing this objective w ill require a reversal in the long-term decline in 
national and international funding of agriculture.   
                                                     
 
1 An agenda for the workshop will be issued in due course. WT/COMTD/AFT/W/17 
Page 2  
 
  4. Various steps have been taken to address this issue.  In 2003, the African Union established 
the Comprehensive African Agriculture De velopment Programme (CAADP) under the New 
Partnership for African Development.
2  Comparable initiatives have b een launched in other regions 
such as, inter alia , the "Latin America and the Caribbean  without Hunger 2025 Initiative", "ASEAN 
Integrated Food Security Framework"3, "Riyadh Declaration to Enhance Arab Co-operation to face 
World Food Crisis".4  In 2008, the World Bank's World Deve lopment Report looked at "Agriculture 
for Development".5  In July 2009, the L'Aquila Food Security Initiative was announced.6  I n  
November 2009, the World Summit on Food Security was held.7 
5. The World Food Summit Declaration recognizes th e role that functioning domestic, regional 
and international markers play and the need for a timely, ambitious, comprehensive and balanced 
conclusion to the Doha Development Agenda.  This conclusion is mirrored in various of the regional 
initiatives referenced above.  For example, one of the four pillars of CAADP is market access.  Under 
pillar two of CAADP the focus is on improving lo cal infrastructure so that African farmers have 
better connections to markets, addressing issues incl uding:  transportation, (road, rail, marine and air 
freight), storage, packaging and handling systems,  retail facilities, informa tion technology, and overall 
supply chains. 
6. In 2007, Aid for Trade accounted for 32 per cent of total sector allocable Official 
Development Assistance (ODA).  Agriculture is one of  the sectors to which Aid for Trade is offered.  
Preliminary figures from the OECD suggest that ODA offered in the categories covered by Aid for 
Trade to the agriculture sector averaged US$3.4 billion between 2002 and 2005.  In 2007, this figure 
had risen to US$5.4 billion.    
7. The 2008 World Development Report highlighted what it termed "the special powers" of 
agriculture in reducing poverty.  In many developing  countries, particularly low-income countries, the 
agriculture sector is key to their economic perfo rmance.  Agriculture accounts for between 30 to 
60 per cent of GDP and employs as much as 70 per cent of the population in many Least-Developed Countries.  Improving the performance of the ag riculture sector thus has positive impacts on 
economic growth and employment for a larger segm ent of the population.  Cross-country estimates 
quoted in the report show that GDP growth originati ng in the agriculture sector is at least twice as 
effective in reducing poverty (in a cross-section of  developing countries) as GDP growth originating 
outside agriculture.  The effect becomes more powerful when other factors, such as the gender 
dimension in rural poverty, are also considered.  Furthermore, the report highlights that any economic 
growth strategy in economies which are primarily b ased on agriculture must focus on that sector as an 
engine of growth.   
8. Aid for Trade can make a specific contributi on to the agricultural sector by supporting 
countries in mainstreaming at a policy level, in bui lding capacities, in connecting markets, in aiding 
distribution, in providing storage and in improving standards and quality to assi st developing nations 
to compete in regional and global agricultural markets.   
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2 See: http://www.nepad-caadp.net/index.php 
3 See: http://www.aseansec.org/22338.pdf   
4 See: http://www.aoad.org/strategy/RiadhDeceng.pdf 
5 See: http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE /EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTRESEARCH/EXTWDRS/ 
EXTWDR2008/0,,menuPK:2795178~pagePK:64167702~piPK:64167676~theSitePK:2795143,00.html 
6 See: http://www.g8italia 2009.it/static/G8_Allegato /LAquila_Joint_Statement_on_Global_Food_ 
Security%5B1%5D,0.pdf 
7 See: http://www.fao.org/wsfs/world-summit/en/