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by

Johh Madeley, Forum Syd, Sweden

This survey covers 27 case studies and experiences of the effects of trade
liberalisation, (the removal or reduction of barriers to international
trade in goods and services), on food security and poverty. Some run to
several pages, others are much shorter. On the key question of what trade
liberalisation has done to people who are already food insecure, their
evidence appears remarkably consistent. The common and overriding message
can be summed up in a sentence from Hezron Nyangito's study of Kenya -
"liberalised trade, including WTO trade agreements, benefits only the rich
while the majority of the poor do not benefit but are instead made more
vulnerable to food insecurity."

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