These conference proceedings explore why policy coherence is important, how it affects global agricultural trade, and whether it can help reduce poverty and hunger.

These proceedings of the OECD Global Forum on Agriculture brought together experts from both developing and developed countries and from both the agriculture and development communities. The papers presented explore why policy coherence is important, how it affects global agricultural trade, and whether it can help reduce poverty and hunger.

Agriculture and Development, OECD 2005, discusses the extent to which OECD country agricultural and agricultural trade policies are coherent with, and supportive of, the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, particularly the elimination of extreme poverty and hunger.

At a time when agriculture is no longer the dominant sector in rural economies in OECD countries, this study examines the advantages of developing coherence between agricultural and rural development policies.

With trade recognized as a means of implementation under Agenda 2030, policy-makers will need to ensure that trade, and policies affecting trade and markets, are taken into consideration as part of their efforts to achieve SDG 2. The five targets that set out the level and ambition of SDG 2 (ending hunger; ending all forms of malnutrition; doubling the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers; ensuring sustainable food production systems; and maintaining genetic diversity), as well as trade itself, often constitute distinct policy priorities for governments. Trade and related policy measures that may be designed to achieve one target can potentially have unintended negative consequences that undermine the achievement of other targets, both within the country where the measure is applied and in the trading partner countries. It is therefore important that policy-makers identify and recognize areas in which difficult tradeoffs may be needed between competing policy objectives, and identify possible ways in which these can be addressed. Furthermore, while the different targets set out under SDG 2 are mutually interdependent and inter-related, it is important to address the trade policy dimension of each component individually as part of a broader plan of action.

This report draws on key findings and recommendations emerging from available donor evaluation reports, assesses factors that have contributed to the success (or failure) of past programmes, and provides guidance for enhancing the effectiveness and impact of future trade-related assistance.