The Hindu Business Line : India takes tough stance in WTO farm talks

The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Mr Kamal Nath, currently in Geneva, told this at a meeting with the Director-General of the WTO, Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi, on Monday evening, an official release said.

"Developed countries must understand that in agriculture we are battling not so much for trade as for subsistence and therefore, we cannot compromise on subsistence, risking in the process, social and economic upheavals," Mr Nath said adding that for as India no framework agreement would be better than a bad framework agreement for further negotiations that lacked balance and equity.

Mr Nath said the core issue was that of market access which could not be given, unless in parallel the issue of artificial global prices arising out of the heavy farm subsidies given by some developed countries adversely affecting the lives of farmers in developing countries was addressed. "One is a trading constituency and the other is a subsistence constituency with meagre land holdings of one or one and a half hectares. These are two different constituencies. And subsistence cannot be a subject of negotiations," he said.

The principles of special and differential treatment and the issue of effective cut in domestic support by developed countries — and not just shifting subsidies from one box to another — would be important in ensuring a balanced text, the Minister said.

The WTO Chief, Dr Panitchpakdi, indicated that an improved text addressing some of these concerns "closer to the final text" was likely by Wednesday.