Many economists and business leaders believe that the increase in tariff protection for eight agricultural items being sought by the Dominican Republic at the WTO is not the solution to the sector’s lack of competitiveness. They believe that rather than helping farmers, this measure will postpone important technological and structural improvements that are considered fundamental for the country to compete on an even keel in the new world economic order.
Given that the WTO has set the year 2005 as the deadline for countries to remove all tariffs and other barriers in the way of free trade, pushing up import duties will only promote more inefficiency in the country’s agriculture. The economists advocate an end to, what they describe as, stop gap solutions to the problems in the agricultural sector.