Global agricultural prices and policies during WTO regime: Explorative research to price policy advocacy

Abstract

Nurturing population and global demand for food are putting pressure on agricultural prices. Prices are a complicated prodigy. A cobweb model is innate in agricultural price policy. Setting the prices is the most difficult task for firms and the government. Meta-analysis, and scientific and political policy analysis were approached to validate the results. The main objective of the paper is to review and analyze various agricultural price policies continent wise and selected country wise and formulate new global price policy for developed and developing countries. The study revealed that not only micro and macroeconomic indicators but also the environmental factors such as the COVID pandemic influence the prices, which may affect the producers and consumers either directly or indirectly based on the review of global prices effects. Market price supports, direct payments to producers, and reduced tariffs through trade agreements are the most common policies existing almost in all countries globally. The government must watch whether the planned policies are implemented successfully or not. The study suggests that the new Global price policy for developed countries is that they must equate international prices to domestic prices and for low- and middle-income countries is that international prices + 20% to protect farmer's welfare coupled with WTO should discipline global trade with stable prices. High optimistic expectations, inadequate collaborative policymaking, dispersed governance, and the vagaries of the political cycle were the four main reasons for the failure of existing policies. Therefore, politicization is compulsory but not sufficient to illuminate accepting international organization norms and agricultural policies toward sustainable agriculture.