The vast majority of unorganised small farmers in these countries are harmed by this position. The pro quo of more open markets for products such as palm oil and coconut oil in the North is even greater liberalisation of the rice and corn industries in Asia. Some agricultural experts warn the governments of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are allowing themselves to be dragged by hardline Cairns Group countries such as New Zealand and Argentina into positions that will ultimately bring great harm to their small producers. Rice farmers in Malaysia and rice and corn farmers in the Philippines already bear the brunt of the damaging effects of the Uruguay Round. That's why it's important for Asean governments, small farmers and consumer groups to closely study the anti-liberalisation arguments of the Japanese and South Korean governments.
Agriculture is more than just an area of production.
It is, for millions in both Northeast and Southeast Asia, as a way of life. Free marketeers say greater openness will bring greater efficiency, though they fail to show how this squares with the fact that the main beneficiaries will be subsidised US and European farm interests. The likely outcome of such openness is the bankruptcy of small farmers and their transmogrification into marginalised masses pouring into Asia's big cities. Like Asia as a whole in the WTO process, Asia's small farmers have been big losers in the global trade-liberalisation game. It's time to stop the bleeding.