WTO and Its Implication in Trade of Major Food Commodities of Nepal

The study was conducted to investigate how food traders have perceived the impact of membership of WTO on trade of major food commodities of Nepal. To achieve this objective, primary data was collected from major food traders and key informants of Nepal which was then subjected to descriptive analysis, scaling technique, Garett ranking method, Pearson chi square test and logit regression model. It was found majority of traders agreed on membership has improved overall trade of food commodities but improvement was only seen in import trade not in export trade of Nepal. Decreased or no effect of membership on productivity of major food crops was discovered. Majority of traders had experienced change in domestic trade policies after WTO but policies were not found compatible with WTO regulations and efforts of government were not sufficient. Majority of traders claimed Nepal is getting MFN treatment in import trade only not in export trade. Only majority of exporters were found to be familiar with AoA and majority of importers and traders doing both experienced increased market access except exporters. Dominance of informal trade was found in import trade than export trade of Nepal and only exporters were found to be mostly not affected by informal trade. Results showed higher probability of involving in informal trade for traders of Lumbini and Madesh province than of Bagmati province but the probability was found lower for traders with higher educational qualification. Nepal need to develop policies focused on increasing domestic production, promoting trade of product with comparative advantage, diversifying trade, searching for transit alternatives to trade with third world countries to enhance trade under WTO.