the way out Food threats:
India's
agricultural imports are uncontrolled and unmonitored— a sign
of threat to food sovereignty. Dr TN Prakash discusses this dilemma
and offers solutions
The myth that a fair and competitive global trading system for agricultural
commodities will be established and a developing country like ours
would benefit from it has been broken. The recent WTO's Agreement
on Agriculture (AOA) claims to liberalise global agricultural trade
by disciplining subsidies and other protectionist policies given to
agriculture, especially in the developed countries due to which prices
the world over of agricultural commodities would increase. The WTO
rules supposed to curtail the 'artificial advantageous' of agricultural
goods the Agreement eventually creates an economic gain for Third
World countries indicating of a boost in exports. If US cotton subsidies
were abolished, revenue for cotton farmers in the developing countries
would increase by $250 million, ultimately triggering off income and
employment effects in Third World countries. Contrary to expectations,
prices of most agricultural commodities have started declining steadily
in post Uruguay Round (UR) era. In India, if the direction of our
foreign trade is any indication, it clearly shows that the share of
agricultural imports in the total foreign trade market has been on
a rise post the WTO erafrom a mere five per cent to six, the numbers
are changing everyday. Liberalisation is paving way for marginalisation
of Third World peasantry and eroding survival options of the poor.
INCREASED PROTECTION AND SUBSIDIES
IN
THE DEVELOPED WORLD
Import barriers in the developed
countries on sensitive agricultural commodities, after the implementation
of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), were on a rise and
twice as high compared to the developing countries. Even after reduction
of 36 per cent in present tariff rates (as envisaged under WTO) developed
countries are still allowed to continue with very high tariff rates
so as to block export opportunities of Third World countries. The
total number of subsidies subjected to reduction commitments given
to agriculture is calculated in terms of Aggregate Measure of Support
(AMS). Developed countries were required to reduce their AMS by 20
per cent over six years from 1995. For developing countries, the reduction
was 13.3 per cent over 10 years. Indian farmers are deprived of subsidy
and support, while those in Japan are paid around US $ 33,000 per
farm and US $30,000 in Europe and USA. Ironically, the amount of annual
subsidy that a cow receives in EU is more than the yearly income of
average farmers in India. Green Box Provisions have created a division
among developed countries. Asian countries (including India) are not
protecting their farmers but heavily taxing them. A recent estimation
places our AMS around five percenthalf of the accepted level of 10
in WTO book. Also The Nominal Protection Co-efficient (NPC), (a ratio
of domestic price of an agricultural commodity to the price prevailing
in the international market), for rice (the most staple produce) in
most Asian countries, including India was less than one per cent,
implying that rice growing farmers are definitely unprotected or taxed.
contd...
TO
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