You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Farmers within a country are often protected by tariffs - that is, special taxes on imported food. Such policies are necessary, and should be implemented wherever possible. To what extent do you agree with this? Give reasons for your answer, and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. You should write at least 250 words.

Some countries and their governments find it necessary to implement economic policies that would prevent from stacking import of low-cost agricultural products on shelves of supermarkets or

food

stores. They often put in place an extra tax on imported

food

to make its price higher. The question is why do the governments try to enforce taxes on imported

food

? Does

this

economic

policy

benefit and protect

farmers

? Certainly, the higher tax on imported

food

products by the governments benefit

farmers

. It provides a steady source of revenue that can pay

farmers

their subsidies. Obviously, producing

food

isn’t cheap and requires a lot of manual and mechanical labour in order to grow and harvest it.

For instance

, many large fruit producers in Florida rely on manual workers to pick up oranges in the peak season, so any labour cost or equipment used needs to be calculated into the price of

food

.

As a result

, these expenses make locally grown

food

sometimes more expensive.

However

,

this

coast is often absorbed by the government that pay

farmers

the subsidies to sell agricultural products at a lower price than their cost of production.

Therefore

, the taxation of imported

food

can provide needed revenue to provide financial assistance to

farmers

. Most importantly, the

policy

of taxation is necessary to protect

farmers

from losing their livelihoods. The

policy

prevents the competition from entering the market, so there is no external force to push

farmers

to lower their prices below the cost of their production.

For example

, many

farmers

in Latin America firsthand had experienced in the early 90s the consequences of the free trade agreement known as NAFTA.

This

agreement had permitted the influx of cheap

food

imports to their countries.

As a result

, many

farmers

from South America lost their farms and were pushed into poverty because they couldn’t keep up and compete with extremely low prices of imported goods. I truly believe

this

policy

is necessary. Simply, the high tax on imports helps to protect

farmers

from living in poverty and the government can generate enough revenue to provide them with financial assistance to make their hard work profitable.