Impact of Comparative Advantage & Free Trade on Food Production & Poverty in Developing Co, Slides of Botany and Agronomy

Download Impact of Comparative Advantage & Free Trade on Food Production & Poverty in Developing Co and more Slides Botany and Agronomy in PDF only on Docsity! Free Trade Food First Docsity.com Comparative Advantage • Major idea of Free Trade: – Comparative Advantage • Each country exports what it produces best • Money used to import what it cannot grow • This could alleviate hunger and poverty http://bloggle.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2004310637-1.jpg Costa Rica Coffee Docsity.com Brazil 2003 Food Exports • Soy products – $8.1 Billion • Sugar – 2.1 Billion • Chicken – $1.7 Billion • Coffee – $1.5 Billion • Beef products – $1.5 Billion • Orange Juice – 1.2 Billion Docsity.com Brazil Ag Frontier • Cerrados: – 120 million hectares • high plains • Previously uncultivated – Soil acidity, aluminum – 2006 World Food Prize • Soil improvement of Cerrados – 40 million hectares now cultivated (2006) • Potential for expansion http://www.worldfoodprize.org/assets/pressroom/2006/June/brazil_map.jpg Docsity.com Chile • 1990s had become world’s #1 exporter of table grapes – 90% of world trade in grapes • Sales mostly to U.S. • Poverty widened dramatically – 1970s poor = 20% population – 1990s poor = 41% population Docsity.com Globalization • Some companies seek: – Lowest wages – Most lenient regulations – Cheapest resources • “Race to the Bottom” – People compete to work for less – Accept part time employment – Forgo health insurance – Forgo occupational safety regulations Docsity.com Slash and Burn Capitalism • Large export farming operations set up in a place for a few years: • Melons in Mexico: 7 years before unprofitable – Overused chemicals – Increased pest resistance – Increased wages • Pullout caused economy to slump • Cheap for another multinational to come in • Cycle leaves economy and ecology in decline Docsity.com NAFTA • Resulted in loss of jobs – in both US and Mexico • Jobs in Mexico lost – by flooding country with cheap mass produced goods • 28,000 local companies – out of business • Unemployment in Mexico – doubled • Number at or below poverty – increased from 32% to 51% Slums in Mexico City http://images.world66.com/sl/um/_q/slum_quarter_in_th_1_galleryfull Docsity.com