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The Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Shri Kantilal Bhuria has said that WTO agriculture negotiations are crucial for developing countries to safeguard the interests of millions of small and marginal farmers. He was inaugurating the 6th Meeting of the ‘Asian Farmers’ Group for Cooperation’, here today. The Conference is attended by delegates from India, Korea, Japan, Philippines and Sri Lanka.
The Minister said, the rationale of international trade is based on inherent natural advantages of various countries and all counties benefit if the trade policy favours fair and transparent rules. But problems arise when artificial advantages are created by countries in trade relations by providing export subsidies. He said that in South East Asian region, agriculture is a way of life and the back-bone for the livelihood of people. In these regions, agriculture is mainly dependent on rainfall and output varies due to vagaries of nature.
In his welcome address, Dr. S.S. Sisodia, President of the National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI) reminded that the Doha Ministerial Conference of 2001 had agreed to provide differential treatment to developing countries to ensure food security and rural development. He said that trade distorting measures reflected by export subsidies results in excess production of commodities at the global level and reduces the prices of such subsidized goods and services.
The three-day Conference is expected to evolve market access modalities to facilitate co-existence of various types of agriculture.
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