2. Protectionist policies in agriculture reduce economic efficiency, destabilize world markets, exacerbate tensions between industrialized countries, and threaten progress towards further multilateral trade liberalization. The advantages of lower consumer prices and improved trading positions for the third world far outweigh the disadvantages of removing support for currently subsidized farmers in rich countries. Why should Japan grow rice at a huge loss financed by the taxpayer when other Asian producers like North Vietnam and Thailand would be only too willing to supply more cheaply ? The argument that a country needs to be self-sufficient in food for strategic purposes is answered by stockpiling.