Non-distorting farm support to enhance global food production

The recent world food crisis highlighted the critical issue of global food security and the need to enhance global agricultural production capacity to meet current and future food demand. Increased investment in agriculture and adequate incentives to farmers are required to meet this global challenge. Developed countries provide support to farmers to increase farm income, reduce income variability, improve competitiveness of the agricultural sector, and provide for safe and quality food. Many farm support policies stimulate domestic production, but also create distortions in world markets, inducing disincentives in developing countries' agricultural production in the long run. These distortions have been the object of considerable debate within the World Trade Organization agreement on agriculture. This book provides a review of farm support in high income countries, and explores options for reshaping such farm support in a non-distortionary manner. It also addresses the responses needed in developing countries to ensure a long term and sustained faster growth in their agricultural sectors, enhanced food production, rising rural incomes, and lower poverty.