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Sharad Joshi

THE biennial congress of the World Agricultural Forum (WAF) at St. Louis (MO), US, brings together farmers and civil society organisations, wielders of political power, scientists, producers of inputs and services, food processors, financial institutions and consumer bodies to exchange views on agriculture and related fields. This year's edition, on May 16, 17 and 18, had on its agenda a review of the local, regional and global agri-food systems that are seen as the keys to growth and peace. The three-day debate examined critical issues in agriculture and its role in economic development and human welfare with reference to replicable achievements.

In the first Round Table, distinguished speakers, including Mr James Bolger, the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, covered areas such as economic growth, including expansion of trade and growth of industry as a driver for the development of agri-food systems and the role of food as an engine for local, regional and national development.

In India, since the heady days of Mahalanobis planning, the growth of industry was taken as the spearhead of development. The economic reforms of the 1990 vintage completely bypassed agriculture. In the second avatar of Dr Manmohan Singh, (this time as the Prime Minister, the nation watched helplessly as farmers committed suicide.

Despite unfavourable monsoons, the nation's granaries are full. The industry is booming, growing at over 8 per cent per year and exports are rising. The foreign exchange holdings are at historic heights and the rupee is consolidating vis-à-vis the dollar. If economic growth was driving the development of agri-food systems, agriculture should be flourishing and the farmers basking in prosperity and happiness. In such a situation, the desperation of the landholders in the face of increasing losses and burgeoning debt, and the wrath of the landless in an environment of overall economic upswing, are difficult to explain.

The links between agriculture and the economy and vice-versa are dysfunctional for some reason. For the wage goods, raw materials and the market for industry provided by agriculture, it should, in turn, get the inputs, infrastructure and the finance for development. If the banks, disregarding the `quotas', did not give loans to the farmers on the ground that the projects were not viable, the farmers would be forced to resort to traditional organic farming. Agriculture as a sector would fail to furnish the wage-goods and the raw materials, but the ryots would be happy as non-market subsistence farmers. The anti-farmer price policies and a manipulative credit system have snapped the functional links between the agriculture and the economy. Further discussions at the WAF were devoted to the need to integrate local, regional and international policies as also to balance political interests with the international agreements. Most participants at the discussions brought out the difficulties faced by the OECD and the G-7 countries in complying with the World Trade Organisation rules.

Switzerland justifies its high farm subsidies in view of its landscaping that makes it a prime tourist destination. "What are non-trade barriers for one country, are cultural and social obligations for another," argued one specialist. "What are unreasonable sanitary and phyto-sanitary requirements for one country are pure and simple protectionist barriers for others," added another. In general, in the present epoch, international agreements tend to break barriers of diverse kinds. The parity of treatment between alien nations and for goods and services within the national territory are the twin GATT principles.

The national governments, particularly of the rich countries, tend to accord preference to this or that trading partner and product for some reason or the other. The developing countries have a feeling that they are doing their best to fall in line with the WTO agreements, while the rich nations nurse the grievance that they are not getting access to world markets commensurate with the concessions they are making.

The discussions at the WAF did not adequately reflect the political quandary of the developing countries with functioning democratic systems in ensuring political stability while pushing economic reforms. While in the long run, liberalisation and global networking benefit all parties, in the short term, the deprived sections that constitute an electoral majority in the WTO have serious apprehensions about them. There was an interesting discussion about the relationship between the civil service organisations and the food industry with reference to a `green' NGO that got a number of major food corporations to change over to sustainable methods of production and socially-desirable practices.

The NGO issues sustainability certificates that are displayed on each product. Some doubt was expressed about the long-term sustainability of a system of certificates issued by an NGO and the possibility of them being used as a protectionist non-trade barrier. It showed the complexity of ensuring well-integrated systems of local, regional and global agri-food systems to bring about growth and peace.

(The author, founder of the Shetkari Sanghatana, is a Rajya Sabha Member. He can be reached at sharad.mah@nic.in)

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