in supply and developing standards and labels, current development policies increasingly integrate poverty reduction. Development policies that take into account the diversity of farmers are increasingly recognized. Still, the farming sector in CWANA is facing major national and international constraints, in particular unfavorable markets, persistent subsidies in the North, a growing technical divide between the North and the South and increasing environmental risks.

Agricultural development strategies in CWANA (Table 2-7) are faced with major challenges. How can agriculture ensure economic development objectives of food self-sufficiency and better position on the international market while reducing rural poverty and protecting the environment? What should be the connection between agricultural policies and rural development policies, especially where market orientation and intensifying farm production reduce the agricultural labor force? How can a multifunctional approach to agriculture take into account the social and environmental functions of agriculture and diversify economic activities in rural areas?

2.2.2 Land tenure including agrarian reform

Existing land-tenure systems in the region descend from Islamic and customary law, colonial legacy and national land policies. In the post-independence era, land reform extended state control over land through nationalization and granted rural communities land through privatization and reform of customary property rights. In most countries, institutional reforms were promoted to enhance the performance of farm households and communities. Land policies in Morocco and Tunisia give priority to privatization to promote rural development by granting private rights to both farmers and tribal communities. The partial privatization approach was mainly applied in Jordan and Lebanon; the state retained landownership, the beneficiaries were granted use rights. To achieve better distribution of land and promote agricultural development, agrarian reforms were implemented in Algeria, Iraq, Libya and Syria. Many small farmers and herders received lands and were organized into cooperatives to facilitate access to credit and inputs. In central Asia, under Soviet agricultural production,  

95% of agricultural lands were controlled by large-scale collective and state farms. After independence in 1991, agrarian reforms favored the emergence of smallholder farming, and a large part of the agricultural output is from household plots. Agrarian policies have tended to focus on "decollectivization" of large state enterprises and privatization of holdings. Land reforms have not been adequately accompanied by other reforms, resulting in poor management of land and water.

In countries in the Middle East and North Africa, structural adjustment policies and liberalization movements since the late 1980s affected land-tenure systems. State withdrawal from direct involvement in agricultural production has been important in most countries. Morocco promoted the privatization of state, collective and religious-endowed land. Algeria sold "inefficient" state farms and reformed tenure arrangements in favor of family farms (Bush and Abdel Aal, 2004). Tunisia has achieved privatization of state and cooperative farms. Still, land-tenure systems and farmland distribution are major constraints for agricultural production and do not provide enough incentives to farmers to invest in enhancing productivity. In several countries, many farmers lack property titles and have limited access to bank loans. Demographic growth and no appropriate regulations have often fragmented land and contributed to a decrease in small farm viability. On the other hand, privatization and liberalization have favored larger plots and concentrated production, mainly to the detriment of family farming. Most countries are experiencing a consolidation of large farms, well integrated into national and international marketing and smallholders limited to household survival.

2.2.3 Trade policy, international and regional agreements and the WTO

2.2.3.1 Trade arrangements in the region

Although global trade liberalization is the goal of multilateral trade negotiations under the WTO, all WTO members have entered into regional or bilateral agreements. This subtle shift from WTO objectives is mainly from WTO failure to achieve consensus about trade agreements and the ease of forming regional blocs. The CWANA region is