Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
adversely affected while the other sectors benefit. The motor vehicle and
parts sector is the hardest hit while light industry benefits most.
In terms of regional distribution, almost all the benefits go to the
eastern coastal regon. Ths s because the eastern regon has the hghest
proporton of boomng sectors. Ths pattern of mpact mples that the
regonal ncome dsparty worsens after WTO accesson. Chapter 6 (ths
volume) dscusses ths ssue n more detal.
Impact of WTO accesson on agrculture and food securty
The impacts of WTO accession on production, exports, imports and self-
sufficiency of agricultural products are reported in Tables 7.7-7.10. Although
agricultural imports and exports change significantly, the imported volume
is still within the quota, and the contraction of output is limited. For most
grains, the reduction in output is less than 1 per cent. Consequently, the
impact on grain and food self-sufficiency is also limited and the target rate
of 95 per cent self-sufficiency is likely to be achieved.
Grains production in the eastern region declines the most, while that
n the central regon declnes the least. Ths result s n lne wth the
comparatve advantage of regonal agrcultural producton. Compared to
the eastern region, the central region has a relatively abundant labour
force and land resources. Compared to the western region, the central
region has more favourable weather conditions, and arable land resources
are also relatvely abundant.
However, food security may still be an issue even if the self-sufficiency
target is achieved. This is because the benefits and costs of accession are not
evenly distributed across regions and households. Even if the overall benefit
is larger than the cost, for those engaged mainly in the contracting sectors,
food nsecurty caused by the reducton n ncome may be a problem. Ths
is especially important for rural households in inland regions. For example,
the real wage n agrcultural sectors n the central regon declnes after
the WTO accesson (Table 7.11).
3
Table 7.11 also shows that rural household
ncome ncreases to a smaller extent than urban household ncome; that
is, the rural-urban income inequality worsens.
