India slams developed world for "astronomical" agri subsidies

Dharam Shourie

United Nations, Jul 19 (PTI) Slamming the rich countries
for "astronomical" farm subsidies, India has said it was one
of the main factors that "systematically undermined" the
agricultural productive capacity and "devastated" the food
security in developing nations.

Indian Ambassador to the UN, Nirupam Sen, also sharply
criticised the argument that current world food crisis
presented both threat and an opportunity, saying it would be
"unfortunate" to present the "desperation of millions of
vulnerable people in their struggle to feed themselves as
opportunity."

Addressing the UN General Assembly on food crisis
yesterday, he lashed out at the developed countries for
"astronomical" agricultural subsidies and the Bretton Woods
Institutions giving "harmful prescriptive advice" to
"indiscriminately" shift away from food crops for domestic
population to cash crops for exports.

These two factors "systematically undermined" the
agricultural productive capacity and "devastated" the food
security in the developing countries, he told the 192-member
Assembly.

Sen said hopes that the high food prices would give
necessary impetus to the developed countries to eliminate
agricultural subsidies too have been belied.

"Earlier low food prices justified the subsidies of the
rich. Today high food prices are used to justify these. Heads
I win, tails you lose. This is how one squares the circle, has
one's cake and eats it too," he told the delegates amidst
cheers.

In 2005, the O.E.C.D. countries' agricultural subsidies
amounted to U.S.D. 385.2 billion, while, in the W.T.O., these
very countries induced developing countries to eliminate
duties and barriers and expose their agriculture to this flood
of subsidies, Sen said, adding the developing countries'
argument of food security was downplayed then.

Questioning the arguments of the Comprehensive Framework
for Action (C.F.A.) prepared by a task force appointed by
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Sen said the issue of bio-fuels
has been addressed incorrectly or hidden in generalities of
"recent supply and demand dynamics."

Stating that the key difference between foodgrain based
bio-fuels and non-foodgrain based ones has been glossed over,
he added that "even if we decided to convert all of the
world's grain into bio-fuel, fossil fuels would still be
required and we would not be left with anything to eat."

"In such a scenario, diversion of land that grows cereal
for human consumption into bio-fuel production is
self-defeating," he said.

Strongly refuting the argument made in the Assembly that
increasing demand from emerging economies is one of the causes
of supply-demand tension, Sen pointed out that C.F.A. does not
mention it, nor does Food and Agriculture Organisation.

"The recent World Bank Report by its senior economist Don
Mitchell, who has done a detailed month-by-month analysis of
food price inflation, has concluded that: 'Rapid income growth
in developing countries has not led to large increases in
global grain consumption and was not a major factor
responsible for the large price increases," he told the
Assembly.