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Experts seek strong domestic farm policies

Special Correspondent

JAIPUR: The call for conservation of agro-biodiversity and bringing under-utilised crops to the mainstream to ensure food and nutrition security received a resounding response from the participants at a two-day stakeholders' consultation on World Trade Organisation (WTO) policies in New Delhi this past week-end.

The workshop, organised by the Centre for Community Economics and Development Consultants' Society (CECOEDECON) -- a Rajasthan-based non-Government organisation -- and Food, Trade and Nutrition Coalition-Asia, was attended by representatives of civil society organisations from South Asian and South-East Asian countries.

The participants, focusing their discussion on the suspension of Doha Development Round of WTO, felt that since globalisation had posed a direct threat to food security in developing countries, the steps such as strengthening domestic agricultural policies, protection of agro-biodiversity, field and policy research on agriculture and promotion of agri-biotech were urgently needed.

Experts, while favouring measures such as training, capacity building and advocacy, said the WTO negotiations -- from Seattle to Doha and Cancun to Hong Kong -- had failed to deliver any visible positive results for millions of farmers, peasants and labourers in the developing countries.

Rajesh Mehta of South Asia Partnership-India, Surjit Singh of the Institute of Development Studies, Jaipur, and Theressa Lauron from the Philippines said the trade policy rules affecting food and agriculture had undermined people's food sovereignty as they dictated tariff levels and restricted national policy space.

They pointed out that agricultural liberalisation through WTO and other free trade agreements had put small and medium producers in direct competition in the world market.

Suman Sahai of the Gene Campaign warned that the spread of genetically modified crops and an aggressive expansion of the biotech industry would endanger the livelihood of millions of farmers and rural and indigenous communities throughout the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

Gilbert Sape from Pesticide Action Network-Asia Pacific (PAN-AP), Malaysia, suggested that a legislative forum be organised to facilitate interaction and debate with policy makers on the question of reforms.

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