Horticultural Exports of Developing Countries: Prospects and Issues

Of late, there has been much speculation about what the implications may be for developing countries of agricultural liberalization resulting from the GATT Uruguay Round negotiations. It was expected that the successful GATT negotiations would provide developing countries opportunities to compete on a more equal footing in global agricultural trade. But, at the same time, it also raised concerns on how international food prices and trade will react to free trade regime. Who will gain and who will loose from the possible outcome of trade liberalization is again a central point of discussion. In particular, it is necessary to consider what the price and trade effect of a successful resolution of the liberalization will be and what will be the implication of agricultural trade liberalization for the developing countries. In recent years, faced with rapidly shifting international market conditions, horticultural products among various agricultural products have acquired much attention in international trade. The prospects for the liberalization of trade in horticulture may be linked with the success of the Uruguay Round of the Multilateral Trade negotiations. The inherent importance of horticultural products in world agricultural trade and in developing countries’