The expansion of supermarkets in Asia typifiesthe effects of the increasing liberalization in trade and the inflow of foreign investment. The supermarket revolution thus occupies a focal point in this paper which tracks its phenomenal growth in Asia, and its continuing in roads into CLMV – Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. Given the significant transformation that this major development is expected to bring into these countries' agricultural sector as well as food distribution systems, the paper examines the growing role of supply chain management. The value-adding potential at each level of the chain will allow agriculture to drive overall development by leveraging on the nations' advantage at the input, processing, wholesale and retail trade as well as international trade levels. The initial successes in Myanmar and Vietnam are highlighted.
In the wake of these developments, the paper emphasizes the glaring need to address the issue of how to balance the interests of the key players along the supply chain with that of the national interest, and how to gear up for globalization while also strengthening internal structures and institutions. The challenge is to ensure the orderly and balanced development of supply chains. Specifically, the respective governments would need to launch focused and holistic interventions that would not only manage the supply chains and international networks, but also minimize the marginalization of small farmers and other stakeholders.
The censored Tobit model is applied on data from the Malaysian Household Expenditure Survey (1998/99) to examine household expenditure patterns on food-away-from-home (FAFH). Results indicate that the Chinese population, the urban residents, or those with higher monthly household income have significantly higher FAFH expenditures than their non-Chinese, rural, or lower household income cohorts, ceteris paribus. In addition, other socio-demographic characteristics such as age, gender, household size, or even education do not affect total monthly household expenditures on FAFH in a statistically significant manner. Based on these findings,several observations are noted to provide policymakers and food industry analysts with a better understanding of the habits and attitudes of Malaysian households vis-à-vis FAFH.
The fishery sector has become a large and dynamic contributor to Philippine agriculture. However, the sector confronts the problem of high poverty and alarming threats to its resource base. Policy responses to these problems have been implemented in recent years, but serious gaps remain. Addressing these policy gaps requires reforms that would lead to aquaculture development, bureaucratic rationalization and decentralization, the protection of aquatic habitats, the implementation of a science-based regime of fisheries management, and the promotion of diversified livelihoods among poor fishing communities. A concerted effort to address poverty and resource degradation may incur considerable short-run costs, but would likely yield larger long-term social payoffs.
The chicken industry in the Philippines has diverse components. The commercial sector is characterized by large-scale, industrialized production systems of broilers and layers of exotic hybrids. On the other hand, the backyard sector is made up of many smallholders who keep a few native or crossbred chickens mainly for their own consumption. The backyard sector is worth a separate investigation because it differs from the commercial sector in terms of production and marketing issues and has, so far, received less attention from researchers and policymakers.
This paper identifies key issues and provides policy implications for both sectors. In the main, the commercial sector faces serious threats from global competition and its future depends largely on access to cheap inputs and improvements in production and marketing efficiency. Although not yet threatened by trade liberalization, the backyard sector suffers from low productivity and high mortality rates because of lack of technical know-how and access to key inputs. Its future depends on identifying and removing constraints to subsistence backyard production.
Despite its significant roles in accumulating and sustaining growth, agriculture's contribution to GDP and employment inevitably decreases as the economy grows. One possible strategy to promote the welfare of the agricultural sectors as well attain overall economic growth is by the development of agro-industry. Earlier research findings have contended that agro-industry improves income equality while still maintaining economic growth. This article uses empirical data in a Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) framework to verify these findings. The results reveal that agro-industry is indeed an appropriate vehicle for pursuing the goals of growth promotion and income equality.
In accordance with its mandate to ensure the production and trade of better and competitively priced goods and services around the world, the World Trade Organization has to enforce several multilateral agreements, one of which is that on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Geared towards protecting the intellectual property rights (IPR) of inventors and authors on goods traded worldwide, TRIPS sets minimum standards of IPR protection, which member countries can legislate. Due to the difficulty in estimating the impact of TRIPS on agriculture, it has spawned spirited debates among its proponents and critics since its implementation in 1995. Unfortunately, the bases of arguments from both sides about the impact of TRIPS on global goods trade in general, and on agricultural trade in particular, have been anecdotal. Although some economists have tried to develop models to analyze the impact of TRIPS on trade, their findings have been inconclusive. The same holds true as well with respect to the expected impact of TRIPS on agricultural trade and development.
This paper examines the legal provisions of TRIPS and their implications on Asian agricultural trade and development. It also discusses other issues—not addressed by TRIPS but attributed to it, such as agriculture R&D, "bio-piracy", traditional knowledge and folklore, and plant breeder's rights—whose links to TRIPS have not been established by evidence, or are, at best, anecdotal.
Documenting a specific application of TRIPS, the paper highlights the experience of the Philippines in the testing and commercialization of Bt corn, an agricultural biotechnology product developed and commercialized after TRIPS had gone into effect. The Philippine Bt corn experience provides some evidence that TRIPS and agricultural biotechnology—given the conducive environment of TRIPS-compliant domestic IPR laws, bio-safety policy regulations, information and education campaigns, and research and development—can have a positive impact on agricultural trade and development, even in a developing and agricultural country like the Philippines.
Based on the analysis of the current impact of TRIPS on Asian agricultural trade and development, and the Bt corn experience of the Philippines, the paper proposes an Asian agenda for member countries, by which they can effectively deal with, and benefit from TRIPS.
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