The non-discrimination obligation has existed since the twelfth century. It has been practiced since then, changing from a conditional to unconditional form with the passage of time. It became firmly applied unconditionally at the multilateral level in 1947 after the formation of the GATT trading system upon which several countries based their trading relations. In 1995 when the WTO was formed, the underlying principles of the GATT 1947 became part of the WTO trading system, including the non-discrimination obligation. When countries join the WTO they automatically become subject to the non-discrimination obligation. The ever increasing value of services and trade in the value of intellectual property has necessitated a look at the fundamental principles of world trade that countries have to adhere to in their trade relations. Incidentally, countries are not at the same level economically, hence one of the purposes of the WTO is to facilitate development in developing countries. Accordingly, this requires different application and/or interpretation of these fundamental principles in different situations, depending on the development level of each Member country. Amongst the five principles that underlie the international trading system, the non-discrimination principle is the focus of this study. The sustainability of the entire economic relations between WTO Member countries is dependent upon their fair compliance with this obligation. The obligation is found in Articles II and XVII of the GATS and Articles 3 and 4 of the TRIPS. The Membership of the WTO is made up of developed and developing countries. As a result of the fundamental nature of the obligation it is imperative that the scope and interpretation of this obligation, as developed by WTO adjudicating bodies, be analysed to determine if the obligation’s application and/or interpretation satisfies the above fundamental object and purpose of the multilateral system of trade. The intention here is at all times to show the importance that the non-discrimination obligation carries in international economic and legal interactions and how non-observance of this obligation would negatively affect relations between Member countries of the WTO.

This study investigates the impact of informal cross border trading on poverty reduction in Zimbabwe. In the context of this study, the term Informal Cross Border Trade (ICBT), is used to describe the activities of small entrepreneurs who are involved in buying and selling across national borders. The study focuses on whether the stated activities are lifting those participating out of poverty. The research problem is examined through an assessment of the income levels, assets acquirement, expenditures patterns, food security and family relations. The hypotheses tested in the research are that, “The extent of ICBT is significant in Zimbabwe; ICBT in the Southern Africa region is mainly dominated by women; and that ICBT contributes positively to poverty reduction”. In this context, poverty reduction is said to have occurred when informal cross border trading would have resulted in an improvement in the socio-economic wellbeing of traders‟ households. The Poverty Datum Line (PDL) is used as the measure of households‟ well-being. To assess the impact of ICBT on well-being, a survey was conducted whereby in-depth interviews using the questionnaire method were used to collect primary data. Secondary information was obtained from documentary searches at institutions and also using internet searches. From this study it has been found that ICBT has both positive and negative impacts with regard to social welfare. With regard to economic welfare, based on poverty indicator measures used in the study, ICBT contributes positively to Poverty Reduction. Thus the analysis revealed that informal cross border trade plays an important role in alleviating economic hardships, reducing poverty and enhancing welfare and human development in Zimbabwe.

The increasing need for food supply chain sustainability and food security has considerably strengthened the importance of reducing Postharvest Food Losses (PHFL). Recent studies suggested that collaboration among upstream Agricultural Supply Chain (ASC) partners will impact and possibly reduce PHFL levels; a possible direct relationship between collaboration and PHFL was indicated. Hence, collaboration could be a possible solution to PHFL. Research done in the area of PHFL reduction has not considered the producers unit of analysis. Moreover, there have been many changes in the EU ASC s environment and those changes cause turbulence in the latter environment and impact both collaboration among upstream partners and PHFL. Thus, this research investigates the relationship between collaboration and PHFL as well as the possible moderating effects of the different environmental turbulence factors in the aforementioned relationship in the EU ASCs from the producers perspective.

The thesis analyzes the feasibility of the business plan of the new model of production and distribution of vegetables. It is an idea to run a modern greenhouse farm on the roof of a hypermarket. In this greenhouse we grown intensively year-round vegetables as tomatoes or peppers and then sell it to the underlying hypermarket, where final consumers can buy it without any other intermediaries.

Com modificações nas cadeias agroalimentares proporcionadas pela crescente demanda de produtos diferenciados, os alimentos orgânicos ganham cada vez mais destaque entre os consumidores. O crescente número de consumidores resultou ao interesse das grandes empresas em atuar na comercialização de produtos orgânicos. Com novos mercados emergindo, o setor produtivo também sofre alterações para suprir a demanda. O aumento da escala produtiva e modificações na diversificação das unidades de produção são questões comuns na agricultura. A agricultura familiar quando ofertante de produtos orgânicos pode sofrer alterações em seus sistemas produtivos quando se vincula a diferentes canais de comercialização. Neste sentido, a presente pesquisa teve o objetivo de analisar a influência das relações de agricultores com o mercado nos sistemas produtivos orgânicos de hortaliças em termos de diversificação e/ou especialização de cultivos e direcionamento da produção. Para realização da análise foram relacionados os produtores vinculados a quatro associações e duas cooperativas, que comercializam seus produtos nas redes de supermercados e na feira dos agricultores ecológicos (FAE) em Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. O levantamento dos dados ocorreu por meio de pesquisa de campo com 49 agricultores pertencentes a estas associações e cooperativas, localizadas na região da Serra Gaúcha Os resultados possibilitaram caracterizar as unidades de produção compreendendo os aspectos familiares presentes no ambiente rural, bem como utilização da área, fatores técnicos e tecnológicos, que são utilizados de forma que promovam o sustento da família e preservem os recursos naturais. As relações dos produtores com o mercado possibilitaram distinguir três tipificações: relações de comercialização com os supermercados (RCS); relações de comercialização com as feiras (RCF); e relações de comercialização com os supermercados e com as feiras (RCSF). Possibilitou-se verificar uma tendência de maior diversificação para unidades de produção vinculadas à tipificação RCF, bem como, observar uma tendência de especialização das unidades de produção vinculadas à tipificação RCS. Até o momento as tipificações RCF e RCSF, necessitaram aumentar a quantidade produzida e a diversificação com mais frequência, e a tipificação RCS demonstra maior estimulo e capacidade para aumentar a quantidade produzida e a diversificação de produtos no futuro. A possibilidade de expansão de produção da agricultura familiar orgânica encontra-se vinculada a capacidade de produção da família, sendo que a quantidade a ser produzida dependerá da disponibilidade de área e do trabalho de seus integrantes, estando às relações com o mercado influenciando quais serão os cultivos da unidade de produção. / With changes in agri-food chains offered by the growing demand for differentiated products, organic foods are becoming more prominent among consumers. The growing number of consumers resulted to the interests of large companies to act in the marketing of organic products. With new emerging markets, the productive sector also suffers changes to meet demand. The increase in production scale and changes in diversification of production units are common issues in agriculture. Family farming when the offering of organic products may change in their production systems when it binds to different marketing channels. In this sense, the present study aimed to analyze the influence of relations with the farmers market in organic vegetable production systems in terms of diversification and / or specialization of crops and direction of production. To perform the analysis were related producers linked to four associations and two cooperatives that sell their products in the supermarket and at the fair of organic farmers (FAE) in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The survey data were collected through field research with 49 farmers belonging to these associations and cooperatives, located in the Serra Gaucha region It was possible to characterize the production units comprising the familiar aspects present in the rural environment, and use of the area, technical and technological factors, which are used in order to promote family support and preserve natural resources. The relations of the producers to the market allowed distinguish three typifications: marketing relationships with supermarkets (RCS); marketing relationships with fairs (RCF); and marketing relationships with supermarkets and fairs (RCSF). Possible to verify greater diversification trend of production units linked to the definition RCF, as well as a trend toward specialization of production units linked to the definition RCS. So far, the RCF and RCSF typifications, required to increase the quantity produced and diversification more often, and the characterization RCS shows major stimulus and ability to increase the quantity produced and the diversification of products in the future. The possibility of the organic family farming production expansion is linked to family production capacity, and the amount to be produced will depend on the availability of area and the work of its members, with the market relations influencing what will be the production plant crops.

In Kisangani, as in other parts of Africa subject to political parasitism and economic chaos, people have had to draw on many channels of access to resources in order to survive. This pattern of shifting strategies militates against sustained investment in food supply and thus is a major factor in the food crisis in Africa. Thirteen months of fieldwork in the city of Kisangani and the surrounding subregion of Tshopo revealed how constantly changing regulations, inflation and poor infrastructure forced merchants and farmers into diversification and made long-term investment in rice production and trade risky. Uncertainty in the supply of basic resources such as credit, seeds, fuel, spare parts and produce sacks was linked to the draining of foreign exchange and development funds toward the nonproductive activities of the political élite. Controls on agricultural production such as the forced cultivation of rice led to suppression of African farmers' initiative. Trade in rice was in the hands of expatriate monopsonies until the 1970s, but the indigenization of expatriate businesses and plantations (zairianization) only served to isolate further the rural areas devastated by the Simba rebellion of the mid-1960s. In addition, zairianization fostered parasitism and discouraged investment. In the 1980s, farmers were blocked from organizing their own markets and cooperatives and farm labor was relegated telwomen. Large traders agreed to maintain controls on trade which perpetuated the bureaucracy in order to keep ahead of the mass of mobile small traders. Government programs, and approaches such as privatization and liberalization, initiated by Zaire's external investors, did not change the terms of access to resources within the Zairian economy and, thus, agricultural productivity did not increase. These findings support the theory that multiple survival strategies generated by economic chaos and circumvention of and collaboration with the state lead to declining agricultural productivity. This view has implications for agricultural development policy.

This thesis describes the early modern agricultural history of Germany and its relation to Nazi agricultural policies.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / The keen research objective is to develop a quality system in the Supply Chain Management geared to the agribusiness sector. The Supply Chain Quality Management (SCQM) proposed for blueberry companies must improve their operational performance. This study includes micro and small agricultural enterprises located in the Cañete region of Peru, where thanks to the interviews and questionnaires were possible to determine the critical practices, which will be applied in the agribusiness sector. The literature review found to enrich the methodical procedures that are essential practices of the innovative SCQM model. The research shows that the critical practices to develop quality management in this sector are Customer Relationship Management, Supplier Relationship Management, Process Management, and Human Resources Management. This research turns out to be utterly innovative because the use of the recently proposed technique of Quality Management into the Supply Chain combined with the best practices will lead to operational improvement andother qualitative advantages.Finally, the knowledge embedded in SCQM applied to small blueberry companies in an emerging country can provide added value to management to increase the competitiveness of the agribusiness sector. / Revisión por pares

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / This research uses Supply Chain (SC) data gathered during the distribution and transportation activities of organic coffee. The purpose of this research is to analyze different ways in which crop-chain solutions are adopted in the region of Junín, Peru. The disintegration of the SC is revealed, as each cooperative member works uncoordinatedly on his own leading to different results standards with high costs and low returns. The study focused on different entities from farmers to the port of Callao of an organic coffee supply chain where disintegration is constant. The paper describes a misaligned supply chain including poorly collaboration. All problems found will be an opportunity to develop a distribution model in the organic coffee supply chain of Junín region. / Revisión por pares

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / Purpose: This paper aims to explore the antecedents and performance outcomes of supply chain integration in the agri-food industry in Latin America, a context that the literature on supply chain management has not extensively addressed. The quinoa supply chain, an industry that has encountered a boost in market demand in the past year, is selected as the unit of analysis. Supply chain integration dynamics are analyzed to provide recommendations about integration strategies and benefits in the agricultural sector. Design/methodology/approach: A conceptual model was designed in this study, which includes the drivers (i.e. trust and commitment) and outcomes (i.e. operational and economic performance) of supply chain integration. The relationships were verified through a unique survey, the data of which were collected from 79 respondents operating at different levels of the Peruvian quinoa supply chain (i.e. suppliers, producers and customers). The proposed hypotheses were tested through the partial least squares (PLS) regression. Findings: The results underscore the relevance of trust and commitment as enablers of supply chain integration initiatives in the agri-food industry. These factors are particularly essential for involving the farmers who are the most upstream actors in the supply chain and characterized by unstructured organizations. A high level of integration in these types of supply chain enhances the capacity to improve operational performance, which in turns positively affects the main economic indicators. Originality/value: This study contributes to the discussion of supply chain integration in the agri-food industry, which remains unexplored thus far. It relies on a multitier collection of responses, which is extended to all the levels of the quinoa supply chain, thereby providing the study with a unique depth of analysis. Furthermore, this work contributes to the ongoing discourse on the performance impact of supply chain integration, which several SCM scholars have recently questioned. / Revisión por pares