Intellectual Property Rights and Trade Liberalization in Agriculture: Impact on Developing and Underdeveloped Countries
Ahmet Emre Biber

Abstract
The subject matter of intellectual property rights (IPR) are not part of the negotiation Agreement of Agriculture, However, it has implications for agriculture poverty, trade and food security in developing and underdeveloped countries. This link is mostly related to technology. Technological change has played an important role to expanding world agricultural production during the second half of the twentieth century, especially in the last few decades. Increasing in production volume has not depended on bringing new lands under cultivation, in contrast growth in agricultural production substantially linked research and development investments and the decisions of agricultural policy of the political institutions. As a result, this is a fact that transformation of agriculture policy alters the agricultural production and agricultural trade indirectly. Meanwhile, a key technological development has been the emergence of increased mechanization and the introduction of effective pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and biotechnology or so-called Biotech Crops and genetically modified crops. These products have led to a heated debate, related to their impact on future food production, and on poverty and hunger. Another debate on the issue, has been how to affected agricultural trade of underdeveloped and developing countries. Because, world agricultural trade has been improved and enlarged by this rapid technological change. Furthermore, new agricultural policies and trade agreements has reorganized its global trade. The most important of them, The World Trade Organization (WTO) that aimed at establishing a trade policy system where free trade rules applied in world agricultural trade and agriculture sector. The other one, TRIPS (Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) that ensuring the development of new agricultural techniques. However, the impact of these policies in developing countries is debatable whether positive or not.

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