CM concerned over WTO impact on farm sector

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, MAY. 11. The Chief Minister, Mr.N.Chandrababu Naidu, voiced grave concern over the implications of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime on the farm sector and small scale industry saying "we have not prepared the nation to meet the challenge."

Inaugurating a seminar on "World Trade Agreements and Andhra Pradesh", he feared,"we may have to pay a heavy price for not preparing the farmers and other stakeholders to participate in the WTO arrangement."

Mr.Naidu said he had therefore taken the initiative to persuade the Prime Minister, Mr.Atal Behari Vajpayee, to convene a meeting of Chief Ministers at Delhi on May 21 to take stock of the situation arising out of enforcement of the WTO provisions.

The Chief Minister said there was "remote chance" of getting out of the WTO. The country should therefore gear itself up to face the reality. He, however, regretted that no effort was made to educate the farmers and the common man on the WTO implications. Even the officials of the Central and State Government had no proper perception of the new trade regime. The stakeholders were not involved in the negotiations which were carried on for eight long years. "Will it take another eight years for us to learn the rules of the game", he enquired adding that even intellectuals having a comprehensive idea about WTO could be counted on fingers.

Mr. Naidu said that as a result of lack of preparedness, the country was faced with depressed market conditions. The edible oil sector was the worst hit. The import of edible oil had gone up from one lakh tonnes in 1995 to 45 lakh tonnes. The permitted duty on the import of oils was 300 per cent but the Centre was content with imposing a tariff of about 75 per cent. The farmer lost interest in oilseed production.

The Chief Minister said there was no thorough study of the implications like excess production, depressed prices, dumping of goods in Indian markets, heavy farm subsidies in developed countries in contrast to the subsidy cuts in India, poor endowment of resources of Indian farmer, low level technology and underutilisation of the capacity of the small scale industry.

Mr.Naidu said a mechanism to hold the price line of the essential commodities through coordinated efforts by different States could not be put in place till now and wondered whether "we are not in a position to deal with the intricacies of a world market". He stressed that the roles of the Centre and the States should be clearly delineated and seminars like the one being held today should give a direction to the Government. There is urgent need to balance the interests of the producer and consumer, he stressed.

The day-long seminar was attended by senior officers of the Centre and State Governments, agricultural scientists, industrialists and experts in different streams coming under the impact of WTO.

The tone for the discussions was set by an hour-long power point presentation by Mr.R.P.Agarwal, Joint Secretary , Government of India and Nodal Officer on WTO issues. In his elaborate presentation, he detailed the strengths and weaknesses of India in participating in the WTO regime.

The Minister for Agriculture, Mr.V.Sobhnadreeswara Rao, said serious lapses had taken place in the initial stages of negotiations on WTO as the State Governments were not consulted by the Centre on the vital agreements having a bearing on varied economic activity, especially agriculture.

He said the total aggregate measure support (AMS) of the developed countries had increased from $ 308 billion in 1986-88 to $ 361 billion by 1999. Because of the increase in the level of subsides to agriculture sector in developed countries, prices of several agricultural commodities had come down. This led to a serious crisis on the domestic front, particularly in AP. As levels of buffer stocks with the FCI reached record levels, there was need to demand removal of the exemption provision for the developed countries.

He pleaded that the Centre should reduce excise duties on tractors, power tillers, agricultural inputs, drip and sprinklers and accessories and step up investment in agriculture and irrigation in the public sector. There is a need to reduce electricity tariff on cold storages required to reduce post- harvest losses.

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