The Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture (URAA) was a landmark agreement that emerged from the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations held under the auspices of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The URAA was groundbreaking because it represented the first time that agriculture had been brought within the purview of GATT trade negotiations. This article will explore the key provisions of the URAA and its significance for global agriculture.

The URAA had several key objectives. These included reducing agricultural trade barriers, increasing market access for agricultural products, and promoting fair competition in the agricultural sector. To achieve these goals, the URAA included a number of provisions that addressed key issues in global agriculture. These included provisions related to market access, domestic support, and export subsidies.

One of the most significant provisions of the URAA was its requirement that countries reduce their agricultural trade barriers. This was achieved through the use of tariffication, whereby countries converted their non-tariff trade barriers (such as quotas and import licensing requirements) into tariffs. The URAA also established a system of tariff rate quotas (TRQs) that allowed countries to maintain some degree of protection for their domestic agricultural producers while opening up their markets to foreign competition.

Another important aspect of the URAA was its provisions related to domestic support. Under the URAA, countries were required to reduce their domestic support for agricultural producers, particularly in the form of price supports and subsidies. This was intended to promote greater efficiency in the agricultural sector and to reduce distortion in global agricultural markets. However, the URAA did allow for some flexibility in terms of the types of domestic support that countries could provide, particularly for developing countries.

Finally, the URAA included provisions related to export subsidies. Countries were required to reduce their export subsidies for agricultural products, which had the effect of making their exports more competitive on the global market. This was intended to promote greater efficiency in agricultural production and to reduce the distortions that export subsidies had created in global agricultural markets.

Overall, the URAA was a significant achievement in the world of global agricultural trade. By bringing agriculture within the purview of GATT trade negotiations, the URAA helped to promote greater efficiency and fairness in global agricultural markets. While there was some criticism of the URAA, particularly from developing countries that felt that it did not do enough to address their concerns, it remains an important milestone in the history of global agricultural trade. As the world grapples with the challenges of feeding a growing population in the face of climate change and other pressures, the lessons of the URAA will continue to be relevant and important.