ACCORDING to the recent report released by OECD, the Government
support to agriculture in OECD countries fell to 19% of total farm receipts in
2011, which was a record low obsessed by developments in international commodity
markets, rather than by explicit policy changes.
The
support to producers in OECD countries in 2011 stood at $252 biillion which
verifies a longstanding trend towards falling farm support.
“Agricultural Policy: Monitoring and Evaluation 2012”
finds that support, which distorts production and trade still
represents about half of the total. Trade and Agriculture Director Ken Ash said
that the move toward lower farm support is a welcome trend, but we still see the
need for better targeting and more cost-effective farm policy.
Farm
support should be more closely directed at increasing agricultural productivity
and competitiveness along with environmental issues to ensure sustainable
resource use and help farmers better cope with risk.
The
new report shows that support levels still vary widely across OECD countries.
Over
the 2009-11 period, New Zealand had the lowest level of support, at just 1% of
farm income, followed by Australia (3%), and Chile (4%). The United States (9%),
Mexico (12%), Israel (13%) and Canada (16%) were also below the OECD average
(20%).
The
European Union has reduced its level of support to 20% of farm income. At the
other end of the scale, support to farmers remains relatively high in Iceland
(47%), Korea (50%), Japan (51%), Switzerland (56%) and Norway (60%).
The
report also unfolds that total support to agriculture as a percentage of
national income is falling in the OECD area, declining from 3% of GDP on average
over the 1986-88 period to less than 1% in 2009-11. This declining trend is
observed in all OECD countries over the long term.
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