Indian farmers and food security activists are relieved over the inconclusive mini-ministerial meeting at Geneva, which had been convened to finalise the Doha Round of world trade talks.
“We are very happy. Indian farmers have always wanted agriculture to be taken out of the Doha Round talks. We would like to thank the Indian negotiators, but at the same time, urge them to focus on farm subsidies given by developed countries in the future Doha Round negotiations,” said Yudhvir Singh, spokesperson, Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers, as well as the Bharatiya Kisan Union.
Singh’s response to the failure of WTO (World Trade Organization) talks stems from the fact that the Indian farming community is not comfortable with the protective measures envisaged under Special Products (SP) and Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM).
While SPs are farm goods which would see lower levels of duty cuts, SSM are norms that allow developing countries to temporarily raise tariffs in order to deal with import surges and price falls in farm products.
“Farming is a way of life for Indian farmers, especially the ones whose land holding is less than two hectares. SSM and SP can hardly ensure livelihood security or food security for the marginal farmer,” added Singh.
The Geneva talks broke down as India and the United States refused to budge on their respective stands on SSM. While the Group of 33 developing countries, of which India is a member, wanted an import surge of 110 per cent over a three-year base period to trigger SSMs, the US wanted it to be 150 per cent. WTO director-general Pascal Lamy had proposed a 140 per cent trigger.
“This would have meant that MNCs exporting farm goods to India would only send that much quantity of products, which would be less than 140 per cent. Thus, even if prices plummeted, India would not have been able to invoke the SSMs. Meanwhile, the marginal farmer would have suffered from the price slump,” said Bhaskar Goswami, spokesperson, Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security.
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According to critics, if the informal proposals at WTO for designating 12 per cent of the 700 farm tariff lines is taken into account, then only 84 agriculture products could be protected. Out of this, only 35 would see zero duty cuts. The G-33 wanted 20 per cent of the farm tariff lines to be designated as SPs.
However, WTO experts believe that SPs and SSMs are an efficient measure for protecting Indian interests.
“The fact that these measures are there in the Doha talks indicate that there is a recognition of developing country sensitivities. The G-33 proposals are enough to protect Indian farmers. But the numbers proposed by developed countries are not in our favour,” said Biswajit Dhar, head, Centre for WTO Studies, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.
Linu Mathew Philip, research officer, Centre for Trade and Development, said there are other non-tariff measures available with countries like India to ensure that its interests are not compromised.
“Import duty on wheat and pulses are zero and yet Indian farmers are getting good prices in the domestic market. An institution like the WTO needs to ensure that voices of small and developing economies are heard at the multilateral level,” he said.