The Hindu Business Line : Subsidy cuts

This has reference to the article "Should India demand farm subsidy cuts by developed nations?" (Business Line, January 4). The article is rich in data but marred by short-term analytical perceptions.

A highly polemical issue of huge subsidies doled out by the OECD countries is simplified by stating that the subsidies lead to lower consumer prices for the benefit of poor Third World consumers.

This logic conveniently ignores the fact that the OECD subsidies are not charity for the developing world but to protect high-cost production systems in the rich countries.

Moreover, in the long run, such subsidised exports from the OECD countries will systematically eliminate Third World agriculture and, once that is done, the agri-TNCs will dictate prices without the charity component.

Finally, the clarion call for competitiveness in cost and quality are worth preaching only in a text-book sense as the observed efficiency of OECD agriculture is too deeply entrenched in subsidies to cover up the inefficiencies.

Tharian George

Kottayam

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