Geneva: Highlighting the issue of public stockholding for food security at the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles on Tuesday asked, “What’s the catch? Back to the WTO, there is still no solution to public stockholding for food security,” “WTO is an organization for trade, but one must remember that before trade comes hunger and no One cannot walk on business path on an empty stomach.”
Food security is one of the most important issues under discussion that has a direct impact on the lives of millions of people around the world. Agriculture is not only a source of livelihood for most farmers and agricultural workers in developing countries, it is also important for their food security, their nutrition and for the people in developing countries and at large.
Many countries have been severely affected due to the recent food crisis both during COVID 19 and the current geopolitical situation. “My friends from Egypt and Sri Lanka talked about this yesterday, and we need to see if the draft declarations and decisions will be considered. Help improve food availability in your countries. In fact, both these members do not agree on the draft Food Security Declaration, but they have called for an immediate permanent solution to the public stockholding issue,” the Indian minister said.
Goyal further said that the world is in a state ofWhere the temporary announcements are not going to help the countries but rather to close the permanent solution of public stock holdings pending for more than 9 years are yet to be taken. For a largely self-sustaining food nation. Our state support in the form of subsidies and other government interventions has played a very important role in achieving this adequacy, so we are fighting collectively on our behalf on behalf of all developing countries including LDCs. The journey, our own experience,” said Goyal.
“And look at the story so far from the Uruguay era, where after 8 years of negotiations between 1985-86 and 1994 when the Marrakesh Agreement was decided, the WTO was established, agriculture always got a raw deal , unbalanced results and those that distorted the markets by giving massive subsidies, managed to secure their subsidies, which were prevalent at that time and other countries, from the ability of developing countries to develop their people and take prosperity was denied.”
He underlined that the terms of an agreement are largely favorable to developed countries, which work for their socio-economic status, give higher authority to the already developed world and questioned the calculations under which the developed world Turns out, they are flawed based on some existing conditions. Years ago and without any relevance to today’s situation with price rise, inflation, changing dynamics and with absolutely no system to calibrate it over the years, we have settled at 86 level and today we are suffering the consequences of that.
“In my earlier intervention today, I mentioned this only to warn my other friends in the room that there has been a demand to do so again in fisheries. The Ministerial Conference of December 11, 2013 decided, and I reiterate the ‘decision’ that the members had agreed to by the 11th Ministerial Conference to establish an interim mechanism to negotiate an agreement for a permanent solution to the adoption. The process was set out. We all agreed on it, and developed The world was very keen to adopt a trade facilitation agreement with the US.
“I am saying this with anguish as we are already in 12th MC. MC is delayed, it is technically now almost time for 13th MC and we are yet to finalize the permanent solution It is possible to ”
More than 80 countries have come together till MC 12 to take the issue of public stockholding to its logical conclusion and directly address the concerns of food insecurity. It is ironic that the Agreement on Agriculture (AOA) provides considerable flexibility to the developed members to provide huge subsidies in the form of Aggregate Measures of Support (AMS) and, further, to focus these subsidies on certain products without limits. , but the same flexibility is not available to most developing countries, including LDCs.
“It is pointless to fear the latter in the name of minimum support rights in the name of trade distortion,” Goyal said. There is wide variation in the actual per farmer domestic assistance being provided by different countries, as per the notified information. World Trade Organisation. This difference is more than 200 times in case of some developed countries as compared to developing countries. So the developed countries are giving more than 200 times the support that most of the developing countries are able to give.
“Despite this, some members are insisting on depriving low-income and resource-poor farmers from their already small share of state support,” lamented Goyal. Bringing it under the ambit of talks is not acceptable.”
India has always been active in providing food assistance to vulnerable countries. India supports such an exemption on the proposal to exempt the World Food Program from export restrictions. “We believe, we must also provide G2G transactions so that we can truly ensure food security – both global and domestic, from a broader perspective, especially considering the size, scale and finances of the World Food Program.” Nutrition has its limits,” Goyal said. He urged WTO members to seriously consider this program of a permanent solution to public stockholding, which is being finalized in MC 12, to send a message to the world that “we care, We care about the poor, we care for the vulnerable, we care about food security, we care about a more balanced and equitable future for the rest of the world.”