The Cereal Policies Review 1995-97 is the sixth in the series on recent developments in cereal policies. It was launched in response to considerable interest in developments in cereal policies, both at the national and international level. In particular, we have also been encouraged by the favourable reactions received from many readers of the previous issues. We hope that the information provided will continue to be useful to national policy makers, researchers and others concerned with the wider issues of agricultural development and food security.
The first chapter of the document consists of a review of developments in cereal policies over the last two year, based on information available to FAO at the time of writing. The discussion is organized under the following headings: production; consumption; marketing and stocking; international trade and other agricultural policy initiatives. As policy reforms are typically designed in a framework spanning several years and in a sequential way, readers may wish to consult previous issues of this Review in order to identify particular trends in individual country policies.
In general, agricultural policies for cereals can have significant implications for other sectors i.e. oilseeds, livestock, etc.; thus, this issue also contains a review of recent policy developments in the oilseeds sector (Chapter 2) in the same vein as is discussed for cereals, with the hope of identifying the interrelationships between sectoral policies. As in past issues, the third chapter of this document covers an in-depth review of a particular important change in cereal policy, in this case the United States following the enactment of the Federal Agricultural and Improvement (FAIR) Act of 1996.
Any comments and suggestions are welcome. Enquiries and comments on this publication may be sent to: Chief, Basic Foodstuffs Service, Commodities and Trade Division, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy.
J.N. Greenfield
Director
Commodities and Trade DivisionDecember 1997
