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7 reasons why Indias WTO food security

stand is right
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For most of the developing countries including India, public stockholding for
food security is a livelihood issue. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint
Indias strong stand on food security at the World Trade Organization (WTO) has
threatened to derail the first multilateral trade agreement reached in the last two
decades. Developed countries have complained that India is going back on its
promise made at Bali last December where it was agreed that the Trade
Facilitation Agreement will be made a WTO rule by 31 July, while a permanent
solution to the food security issue will be found only by 2017. India has
maintained that different timelines for various elements of the Bali package is
against the WTO rules of a single undertaking where everything need to be
implemented simultaneously.
Mint takes a look at the logic of Indias position:
1 -Indias complaint is justified. According to the WTO rule, public
stockholdings must not exceed 10% of the value of foodgrains produced and
calculated at the base price of 1986-88. You cannot calculate current food
subsidy limits by 1986-88 prices. That beats all logic.
2 For most of the developing countries including India, public stockholding for
food security is a livelihood issue, a matter which should not be even debated at

WTO.

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3 Developed countries lose nothing if they allow higher public stockholding by

developing countries after putting in place a mechanism with reasonable limits
to ensure developing countries do not dump their excess cereals at rock bottom
prices in the international market.
4 Allowing developing countries to continue to provide price support to their
farmers will be a big confidence booster in multilateral trade, given that the
focus of the ongoing Doha round of negotiations is supposed to be on
development. Developed countries can claim moral victory and fast-track the
remaining issues of the Doha round once they oblige the food security demand
of the developing countries.
5 Food security is the foundation upon which the United Nations Millennium
Development Goals to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger stand. Forcing
developing countries and Least Developed Countries to agree to anything which
may compromise their right to food security will not only compromise basic
human dignity but also go against the UN declaration to which all countries are a
signatory.
6 The government support to farmers in developed countries are way ahead of
what developing countries can even afford to provide. For example, while India
provides about $12 billion farm subsidy to its 500 million farmers, the US
provides around $120 billion to its 2 million farmers. The figures could be
contested, but not the trends.
7 Lastly, there is wide realisation in India at the state and central government
level about the rising burden of subsidies and there is a serious move to make it
more targeted through the use of technology as in the case of the Direct Benefits
Transfer programme. To expect it to happen at the pace developed countries
wish means one does not understand the complexities of a country like India.

First Published: Tue, Jul 29 2014. 07 17 PM IST

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