The Hindu : National : Pawar calls for greater cooperation in agricultural sector

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Saturday, Mar 26, 2005

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National

Pawar calls for greater cooperation in agricultural sector

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, MARCH 25 . The Union Agriculture Minister, Sharad Pawar, has called for special efforts by South Asian countries to upgrade the existing South Asia Preferential Trade Arrangement (SAPTA) to South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) and for raising the level of cooperation in agriculture sector.

Inaugurating the Roundtable meeting of Agriculture Ministers and key policymakers on "Prospects for South Asia Free Trade and Cooperative in Agriculture Sector," here today, Mr. Pawar said negotiations for establishing SAFTA should include integration of agriculture sector, in a more meaningful manner, so that benefits could be shared by all. The cooperation in agriculture could begin by setting up a forum, under the ambit of SAARC for exchange of information, he said.

The policymakers from these countries could meet frequently to achieve the objective. Another important area of cooperation among the SAARC nations could be agriculture-related research and education.

Trade barriers

Referring to globalisation, he said far from the expectations, it had led to deceleration of agriculture growth impacting rural livelihood in India.

Within the farm sector, developing countries were systematically excluded from a larger share in the high-value added trade owing to a range of trade barriers.

"We need to counter the iniquitous aspects of globalisation jointly on one hand and support each other, on the other, by increasing intra-developing country trade and investment, although the developing countries were a heterogeneous group."

He hoped that the Doha Development Agenda would provide an opportunity to a level-playing field and ensure a more even spread of benefits of globalisation.

The Agriculture Minister of Bhutan, Lyonpo Sangay Ngedup, said the onslaught of globalisation was a reality and countries needed to gear up to face it.

He lamented that the cooperation among SAARC nations was not up to the desired level and called for collaborative efforts in research and in improving trade.

The Sri Lankan Agriculture and Irrigation Secretary, Tissa Warnasuriya, emphasised on sharing of knowledge, the conditions being similar in all the SAARC nations.

He agreed with the suggestion of the eminent scientist, M. S. Swaminathan, that there should be cooperative export efforts such as in the case of tea from Sri Lanka and Kerala.

The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, spoke of the steps being taken by his Government in checking suicides by farmers.

Dr. Swaminathan, said the trade among SAARC nations should not only be free but fair. He suggested work on a South Asian technology sharing agreement incorporating germ plasm, land-use, marketing and disaster management.

N. Raguveera Reddy, Andhra Pradesh Agriculture Minister, Abhijit Sen, Member, Planning Commission, Suresh Babu of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Prabbu L. Pingali, Director of Food and Agriculture Organisation, and Ch. Hanumantha Rao, Chairperson of the Centre for Economics and Social Studies spoke.

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