The Hindu : 'India should take the lead on food issues at WTO'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 25, 2002

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'India should take the lead on food issues at WTO'

By Sushma Ramachandran

NEW DELHI APRIL. 24. The Director-General of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Per Pinstrup-Andersen, has called upon India to take the lead at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to bring agricultural issues pertaining to developing countries to the table during the current round of negotiations. Describing India's role as ``very important'', he said many developing countries find it difficult to participate in the negotiations owing to their complexity and India's participation ensures that critical issues are brought on board.

Speaking to newspersons on food security issues, Mr. Pinstrup-Andersen said that by putting food and livelihood security on the table as a ``non-trade concern'', India has steered the discussions towards a clearer focus on the potential impact on poor people. He felt it would also play a productive role in the Cairns group and help to change the current distortions in global agricultural trade.

While stressing that India could benefit substantially by opening up its markets, he said developed countries also have to reduce the huge subsidies being given to their farmers.

On a prescription for Indian agriculture, he suggested that agricultural research should be stepped up substantially while subsidies should be reduced since many of these are meant for manufacturers like in the case of fertilizers, rather than farmers. As for the procurement system, he felt it needed to be gradually phased out as it had been introduced at a time of shortage and was not meant to cope with the existing scenario where the country is faced with grain mountains. In the case of research, he said the need was for more participative research to meet the needs of the farming community.

The IFPRI chief also highlighted the need for realistic user charges for water and power instead of the populist measures to woo the farming community in many States. At the same time, he pointed out that India is well within WTO limits for its existing farm subsidies but needs to cut back on these and use the funds for development of rural infrastructure especially in terms of primary education and health.

He was in favour of greater liberalisation and did not agree with the thesis that this might affect the poorer sections through violent price fluctuations. Instead, he said the possible risks of opening up for low-income groups needed to be met by devising social safety nets such as the public distribution system.

Later, delivering an address on ``Emerging issues in trade and Technology - implications for South Asia'', he said that if India remains hesitant about completing the liberalisation of agricultural trade, it may lose out on opportunities that globalisation offers while seeking to avoid the very real risks. ``Now that China has joined the WTO and is deepening its engagement with globalisation, the biggest risk for India may be getting left behind'', he said.

The address was part of a conference on the Economic Reforms and Food Security - the South Asia Initiative organised by the Indian Council for Research in International Economic Relations (ICRIER), IFPRI and the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR).

He also warned that unless developed countries are willing to open their markets to temperate zone agricultural exports from developing countries and end tariff escalation against processed and higher value products, the benefits that developing countries will derive from globalisation will be limited. In addition, South Asian countries face high tariff barriers in other developing countries' markets for such key exports as mangoes, tea and cashew.

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