Indian Farmers attending World Trade Organization Ministerial in Buenos Aires warn government to take agriculture out of WTO

11 Dec 2017,  Buenos Aires: Indian farmers attending the World Trade Organization’s 11thMinisterial Conference from 10 to 13 December in Buenos Aires are demanding the Indian government and its delegation led by Commerce and Industry Minister, Suresh Prabhu, to defend India’s food security and the livelihoods of millions of poor consumers and farmers. They warn Prabhu to not give in to rich country demands of ending India’s public food stockholding program and farmer subsidies which they deem as trade distorting.

India’s National Food Security Program currently covers up to 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population [1] and provides targeted subsidies to the poorest Indian’s especially women and children. At the same time, in order to maintain adequate food stocks for the program, the government supports Indian farmers by procuring certain grains from them at fixed and subsidized prices called Minimum Support Prices (MSP)[2].

While the MSP is quite low and doesn’t even cover the cost of production by farmers, developed countries still demand even these low and life-supporting subsidies to be removed. On the other hand farmers in developed countries continue to receive enormous subsidies. In India, the move towards dismantling the food security program has already begun, subsidized ration shops in some Union Territories have been closed [3].

At the WTO’s Bali ministerial in 2013 countries had decided on a peace clause until a permanent solution was found, whereby action would not be taken against countries breaching subsidy limits for their public stockholding programs[4]. Now rich countries are imposing all kinds of conditions upon the permanent solution which would make it difficult for developing counties to fulfil and maintain their food distribution programs [5].

Yudhvir Singh of the Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers' Movements (ICCFM) and representing farmers from across India said, “India must not entertain any new issues like e-commerce or conditions or compromises on any allied issues until the permanent solution is resolved.” Rakesh Tikait of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) said, “Indian farmers are committing suicide because of poor incomes, now they want to cut even this very low support that is keeping us farmers and the hungry from dying.”

S Kannaiyan, convener of the South Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers’ Movements(SICCFM) said, “Rich countries wrote the  Agreement on Agriculture in the WTO to favour themselves. Agribusiness corporations in rich countries receive huge subsidies which distort international prices. They want to dump their agriculture products in our countries and want us farmers to go out of business and depend on them for food. Agriculture must be taken out of the WTO.”

Farmers representing millions of farmers across India protesting inside MC11 at Buenos Aires

Another farmer from the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha(KRRS), Gopal Papegowda said, “The Government should expand our Public Distribution Program to include pulses, oilseeds, millets, and vegetables which will benefit our farmers and poor consumers instead of dismantling it.”

Sellamuthu, of the Tamizagha Vyavasayagal Sangham(TVS) said “We have travelled far to fight for our basic right to an honest dignified livelihood. The Indian government cannot let us down this time. Giving in to the demands of the corporate controlled WTO will mean the sure death of the Indian farming community which is already reeling under severe agrarian distress.”

The farmers represent some of the largest farmers’ networks in India have been accredited to attend the WTO Ministerial Conference as Civil Society representatives of the international peasants’ movement, La Via Campesina [6].

Contact information for interviews: -

Yudhvir Singh, ICCFM: -+91-9868146405; Email: yudhvir55@yahoo.com (English, Hindi)

Rakesh Tikait, BKU : -+91-9219666799; Email: bku.tikait@gmail.com (Hindi)

Gopal Papegowda, KRRS: +91-9900198894 (Kannada)

Sellamutthu, TVS :+91-9443855667 (Tamil)

S Kannaiyan, SICCFM : +91-9444989543; Email: sukannaiyan69@gmail.com (English, Tamil)

Notes:

[1] http://dfpd.nic.in/Salient-features-National-Food-Security-Act.htm

[2] http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=155785

[3] http://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/why-india-needs-to-fight-for-food-security-at-wto-59310: “According to the information provided by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in Lok Sabha (Lower House of the Parliament of India) on July 25, 2017, all the ration shops in Chandigarh and Puducherry have been closed. These two union territories were used to be allocated 91,584 tonnes of food grains for distribution among 857,000 consumers. This has been stopped from the year 2017-18 and replaced by direct cash transfers,” instead of procuring from Indian farmers.

[4] http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/at-wto-india-to-play-hardball-on-peace-clause/article9968851.ece: “According to the peace clause negotiated by India at the Bali meet in December 2013, no action will be taken against India, or other developing countries, in case the subsidies on their food procurement programmes breach the ceiling of 10 per cent of value of food production laid down by the Agreement on Agriculture”

[5] http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/policy/india-to-reject-permanent-solution-on-public-stock-holding-if-inferior-to-peace-clause/article9988039.ece

[6] La Via Campesina is an international movement bringing together millions of peasants, small and medium size farmers, landless people, rural women and youth, indigenous people, migrants and agricultural workers from around the world. La Via Campesina comprises 164 local and national organisations in 73 countries from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. Altogether it represents about 200 million farmers. (https://viacampesina.org/en/)

http://lvcsouthasia.blogspot.in/2017/12/indian-farmers-attending-world-trade.html

https://viacampesina.org/en/wto-kills-peasants-21-years-enough-wto-out-of-agriculture-la-via-campesina-to-step-up-its-resistance-during-the-xi-ministerial-conference/

Indian farmers denounce UN Seed Treaty’s attempts to hand over people’s seed heritage to private companies

26 Oct, New Delhi: More than 50 Indian Farmers’ groups from the Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Movements (ICCFM) [1],  have expressed concern over the proceedings of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food & Agriculture (ITPGRFA) [2] in a letter submitted to Mr. R. K. Singh, the Treaty’s national focal point in India today [3].Farmers claim there was no national consultation process at India level and demands for an urgent meeting with the farmers community before the next round of negotiations.

The UN Treaty is up for discussion at the 7th Governing Body (GB) session scheduled between 30^th October and 3^rd November 2017 at Kigali, Rwanda.

As the Indian government prepares to present its position at this important conference, farmers’ groups are disappointed that the Government has not communicated it's statement with them or asked for any suggestions, despite the fact that the Treaty makes it mandatory for farmers to be an integral part of the decision-making process.

Under its aims to promote conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic material for food and agriculture, the Treaty established a Global Information System on Plant Genetic Resources by collecting seeds from across the world,to provide farmers, scientists and the private sector access to the same.Much of the exhaustive collection of the Treaty’s seed banks, the Multilateral System, is held by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), which farmers say is a known lobby-group for the world’s largest agri-businesses and GMO companies.

"These seeds are a public heritage that farmers have developed over millennia.Apart from the bio-piracy threat posed by CGIAR, the Treaty is now considering digitalizing the genetic information of the seeds in these seed banks which will make it easier for private companies to patent native genetic information, which will mean a certain death of the Treaty" said Tanmay Joshi, of Nagpur Beejotsav Gat and Shetkari Sanghthan.

Though there is a clause that any commercial benefits arising out of the use of these materials should be shared with the countries where they have originated, there is no legally binding obligation. Indian farmers are thus made even more vulnerable in this era of rampant bio-piracy practiced by large agri-businesses.

Farmers groups are dissuading the Government from entering into any collaboration with the multilateral Global Information System or the DivSeek programme, both of which are aimed at dematerialising peasant seeds by converting it into data of their genetic information, until stronger provisions are made for safeguarding their rights over seeds and against intellectual copyrighting.

“We hope that our concerns are well heard and acted upon. Upholding the democratic principles that lie within our constitution, we expect and request our Government representatives to have prior discussions with us before presenting at international conferences. Our seed security is at stake”, said Yudhvir Singh, convener of the AICCFM.

India is a megadiverse nation of rich plant genetic heritage with thousands of varieties in each food crop species. Many of these native crops have proven traits against the effects of climate change like droughts, floods, submergence and salinity. Efforts should be taken to protect, preserve and promote their cultivation without any risks of private patent restrictions. The Kigali Conference will determine whether India’s food sovereignty and the natural rights of our food producers can be protected at the global level.

Contact Information for Interviews

1.      Yudhvir Singh– +91-9868146405; Email: yudhvir55@yahoo.com

2.      Tanmay Joshi– +91-8087502186; Email:  tanmay_sg@gmail.com

Notes

[1] The Indian Coordaintion Committee of Farmers movements is a national alliance of mass based farmers movements formed in early 1990s and comprises of big farmers movements such as Bhartiya Kisan Union, Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, The Tamilaga Vyavasayigal Sangam, Shetkari Sanghatna and Kerala Coconut Growers Association . Collectively they represent more than 300 million farmers nationally.

[2] The objectives of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture are the conservation and sustainable use of all plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of their use, in harmony with the Convention on Biological Diversity, for sustainable agriculture and food security. See: http://www.fao.org/plant-treaty/en/

[3] Mr. R.K. SINGH is the Indian focal point for the treaty -
Department of Agriculture and Cooperation
Joint Secretary (Seeds)
Krishi Bhavan
New Delhi - India
Phone Number: +91 1123389241
Fax Number: +91 1123387669
Email Address: jsseeds-agri@nic.in

Letter by SICCFM secretary to the editor of The Hindu

The Hindu recently published an Opinion hailing the outcome of the WTO conference at Bali, echoing the words of other corporate sponsored mainstream media. The article can be found here.

We wonder what P. Sainath, their acclaimed rural affairs editor, would comment on this viewpoint, as it is glaringly evident that the WTO Bali Package is only going to benefit the rich trading corporations while snatching away the livelihoods of scores of poor farmers across the developing world. S. Kannaiyan, the dynamic secretary of the SICCFM has written a letter to The Hindu editor, in response to their editorial article. Here is Kannaiyan's letter. We hope The Hindu acknowledges its responsibility towards educating the classes and the masses by publishing Kannaiyan's letter.


Letter to the editor, The Hindu

To,
Editor in Chief,
The Hindu.

Dear Sir,

It was disappointing to see The Hindu editorial dated 13th,
December,2013 , “A good start in Bali” celebrating the results of the
anti people Bali Package adopted at the 9th ministerial of the WTO in
Bali recently.

The Hindu editorial is misleading because it tries to portray both the
signing of the Bali package and India's giving in to US demands to
accept the terrible interim Peace Clause as victories. This is not a
victory at all but a great loss for humanity, because the deal stops
any future affirmative action by governments to carry out food
security programs or farmers' subsidies. The US on the other hand, will
continue to legally pay massive farm and food stamp subsidies.

India had been opposing the Peace Clause until the very end, defending
not just Indian farmers and the hungry, but taking a firm stand for
the 4.2 billion poor peoples of the entire world. India's Food
Security Act and the PDS system are a good model for all other
developing countries to follow. It is unfortunate that India finally
gave in to US demands to accept a very restrictive Peace Clause
and one that applies only to current legislation, preventing any
future food security programmes for all developing countries. Now it is
completely dependent on further negotiations what type of a permanent
solution will be found and if current subsidies or food security
programmes can even exist at the present scale. Lastly, developing
countries will have to accept their guilt in violating WTO rules
before they can even apply the peace clause. No country's government
should have to beg the WTO or any other institution to support its
citizens right to food because that is the right thing to do.
Regards,
Kannaiyan
 --
*S.KANNAIYAN.*
*South Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers' Movements (SICCFM)*,
Panakahally ( Village and post ),
Thalavady (Via),
Sathyamangalam Taluk,
Erode District,
Tamil Nadu,
India.
Pin code: 638 461.
*Mobile: +91 9444989543*
Skype: S.Kannaiyan
http://kannaiyan.blogspot.com/
http://siccfm.blogspot.com/

The pictures say it all... sadly the WTO saw only the profit of a few MNCs

Here are some telling messages that small farmers from across the world wanted you to know. It is infinitely sad that our Ministers and the Corporate world traded away the livelihoods of our farmers.

All pictures courtesy Benny Kuruvilla.

Korean farmers denouncing the WTO

The Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha at Bali

Farmers plead with their Ministers to EndWTO

Food is our birthright!

Corporate power ruins poor farmers

USA seems to be the chief enemy of the poor and farmers

The WTO pushes through bad deal in the final hours; Developed countries and their TNCs are the big winners

Please find below the Press Release that has been endorsed by all the farmers, peasants and civil society organizations campaigning in Bali.

The 9th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) pushed through a Bali Package in the final hours, extending the Conference to December 7, but at the cost of the developing countries, the poor and the hungry.

Facilitating Trade for TNCs

Hailed as a victory by the WTO for unlocking the deadlocked negotiations, the Bali Package delivers a legally binding agreement on Trade Facilitation that is costly to developing countries and ensures easier access and profits for Transnational Corporations (TNCs). Trade Facilitation, or the easing of customs procedures and borders, clearly benefits only the big TNCs that already control exports and imports. As the 2013 World Trade Report data shows, “80% of US exports are handled by 1% of large exporters, 85% of European exports are in the hands of 10% of big exporters and 81% of exports are concentrated in the top 5 largest exporting firms in developing countries.”

Added to this, is the hypocrisy that this Trade Facilitation deal will open borders in all Member countries except Cuba, as it does not effectively cancel the 60-year long US blockade against the Cuba. The reference to the non-discrimination principle of Article V of the GATT 1994 remains pure rhetoric as it is stated in the Declaration and not in the text of the Trade Facilitation Agreement.

Peace Clause that jeopardizes the Right to Food

In exchange for the costly, legally binding agreement on Trade Facilitation, developing countries received nothing.

- There is a very bad peace clause that violates the right to food and jeopardizes the right to food sovereignty as it places numerous restrictions on the ability of developing countries to give support to their small farmers and poor constituents.
- The peace clause only applies to existing public stockholding for food security programs that exceed the Aggregate Measurement of Support (AMS) or de minimis, as of the date of the decision, effectively meaning that only India can apply it and that no future food security programs of developing countries will be allowed.
- There is a promise of a permanent solution but subject to future negotiations during the next 4 years. What that permanent solution will be is an uncertainty.
- Most importantly, developing countries will have to accept their guilt in violating WTO rules before they can apply the peace clause

Finally, this peace clause is nonsense simply because no country should have to beg for the right to guarantee the right to food. Food and agriculture should never have been included in the WTO in the first place.

Old, Unfulfilled and Failed Promises

The issue of Export Subsidies remains a promise. It was already promised in the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration that all export subsidies will be eliminated by 2013. Today, in the Bali Package, there is again only a rhetorical promise that "export competition remains a priority issue for the post-Bali work programme."

In Cotton, a long-standing demand of African countries, also a promise in the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration that never got implemented. Today, in the Bali Package the promise is to have "dedicated discussions" post-Bali.

The Bali Package has a Least Developed Countries (LDC) Package but with nothing substantial or meaningful. The special and differential treatment and monitoring mechanism are old unfulfilled promises that remain a declaration today.

In summary, the Bali Package delivers a legally binding text on Trade Facilitation, a very bad peace clause on food security that jeopardizes our right to food sovereignty, empty declarations and promises on long-standing developing country demands on export subsidies, cotton and the LDC issues.     

We call for an End to the WTO; We demand Economic Justice

The WTO has once again shown that it is an organization for the developed countries and the TNCs, pushing free trade rules that only benefit the rich and concentrate even more wealth in the hands of a few. It has not and never will deliver development for the people.

The WTO is a failed and delegitimized institution that is desperately trying to revive itself with a Bali Package at the high cost of food sovereignty, livelihoods, jobs, and the future of the people.

We reiterate our call for an End to the WTO and the tyranny of the free trade regime. We redouble our efforts in fighting the system and pushing for the peoples’ alternatives. We will continue our struggle to achieve a world without the WTO and free trade agreements and in its place have an Economy for Life.

For more information contact:
Muhammed Ikhwan: m.ikhwan@gmail.com, +62 819 32099596 (English, Bahasa)

Members of Gerak Lawan: (Gerakan Rakyat Lawan Neokolonialisme-Imperialisme)
Indonesia for Global Justice (IGJ) - Bina Desa - Serikat Petani Indonesia (SPI) - Solidaritas Perempuan (SP) - Aliansi Petani Indonesia (API) - Indonesian Human Right Committee for Social Justice (IHCS) - Komisi untuk Orang Hilang dan Korban Kekerasan (KONTRAS) - Climate Society Forum (CSF) - Koalisi Anti Utang (KAU) - Koalisi Rakyat untuk Keadilan Perikanan (KIARA) - Institut Hijau Indonesia (IHI) - Lingkar Madani untuk Indonesia (LIMA) - Jaringan Advokasi Tambang (JATAM) - Aliansi Jurnalis Independen (AJI Jakarta) - Front Perjuangan Pemuda Indonesia (FPPI) - Lingkar Studi-Aksi untuk Demokrasi Indonesia (LS-ADI) - Serikat Nelayan Indonesia (SNI) - Kesatuan Nelayan Tradisional Indonesia (KNTI) - Serikat Buruh Indonesia (SBI) - Asosiasi Pendamping Perempuan Usaha Kecil (ASPPUK) - Perhimpunan Bantuan Hukum dan Hak Asasi Manusia Indonesia (PBHI) - Universitas Al-Azhar Indonesia (Dosen Hubungan Internasional) - Asosiasi Ekonomi-Politik Indonesia (AEPI) - Koalisi Rakyat untuk Hak Atas Air (KRuHA) - Aliansi Pemuda Pekerja Indonesia (APPI) - Migrant Care

Convenors of Social Movements for an Alternative Asia:
Alliance of Progressive Labor, Philippines, All Nepal's Peasants' Federation, Assembly of the Poor, Thailand, ATTAC Japan, Bangladesh Krishok Federation, Bangladesh Kishani Sabha, Bhartiya Kisan Union, India, Coalition Against Trafficking of Women (CATW-AP), Focus on the Global South, FTA Watch Thailand, Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU), Indonesia for Global Justice, Indonesian Political Economy Association (AEPI), Koalisi Anti Utang (KAU), Indonesia, Jubilee South-Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development, Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, Karnataka, India, Kerela Coconut Farmers Association, Kerela, India, Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), La Via Campesina, Migrant Forum in Asia, MONLAR, Sri Lanka, Northern Peasants Federation, Thailand, NOUMINREN, Japan, Peoples Coalition for the Right to Water, Indonesia (KRuHA), Serikat Petani Indonesia (SPI), South Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers Movements (SICCFM), World March of Women-Philippines

EndWTO Allies
FairWatch Italy, ATTAC France, SENTRO-Philippines, Ecologistas en Accion, Spain, World Development Movement

Support our farmers or let them commit suicide. Remember martyr Lee Kyung-Hae

-Pannaga Prasad

Lee Kyung-Hae was a quiet kind boy born to wealthy parents in 1947 in united Korea. He graduated in agricultural science and decided to take up farming on the hilly slopes of South Korea where he now belonged, though his parents wanted him to take up a more glamorous job like the government service. Toiling day and night he built a 30 acre farm which boasted of colourful different varieties of fruits and vegetables, lush green paddy and many cows. His farm became a symbol of agricultural prosperity because the hilly slopes were no fertile river plain and it required great planning, knowledge and effort to grow diverse crops. So famous did his farm become, that agricultural students and scientists from across Korea regularly visited it to learn and understand the secrets behind his farming brilliance.

Farmers, students and civil society groups paying homage to Lee Kyung-Hae at the Bali WTO. (Photo: Benny Kuruvilla)

Lee Kyung-Hae travelled far and wide, educating farmers about traditional farming techniques which were also high yielding and preserved the environment. He was elected to a number of prominent agricultural societies and in 1989, Lee was awarded the “Farmer of the Year” by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization. This is where things get more interesting. South Korea by this time was a major export oriented economy, manufacturing hi tech electronic goods and sending them to the industrialized economies, USA, Australia and the European countries. To maintain balance of trade, these countries wanted South Korea to import some of their products, and what was the West manufacturing cheaply? Food. Rice, wheat, maize, corn and dairy products. The West already had big companies like ConAgra, Cargill and Monsanto who by their sheer scale of operation and with cushioned with generous subsidies from their governments, could sell food products at rock bottom prices on the international market. Well, the rich countries always have their way. So South Korea opened its borders to cheap food imports and the big companies made their way into the average Korean kitchen. The Pandora’s Box of Free Trade had just been opened.

Remembering farmers' martyr, South Korean Lee Kyung-Hae. (Photo: Benny Kuruvilla)

The executives who ran these corporations were taught in their business schools that they had to exponentially increase sales, seek new markets, reduce costs and of course make more than 100% profit. The opportunities presented by developing countries, with their large populations, cheap labour and weak environmental regulations were almost too good to be true. And so the World Trade Organziation, being funded by these very companies arm-twisted poor countries to undertake liberalization of their economies.

Lee Kyung-Hae was deeply disturbed by this development. More than 60% of his countrymen were small farmers who could not compete with the flood of cheap foreign food. Let alone make a profit, the poor farmers could not even recover their cost of production. Their government’s bias towards foreign investment saw more big companies entering their markets, pushing the local farmers further into debt. Fertile agricultural land was being sold to factories to build ever more consumer products that the rich wanted. 4 lane and 6 lane highways, luxury apartments were being built. His village which once had a vibrant happy population was now being deserted as more families, now landless and deep in debt, migrated to the cities to work as drivers, watchmen and construction workers. Lee saw all this devastation unfolding before his very eyes and the blood in him boiled.

Paying homage to martyr Lee Kyung-Hae. (Photo: Benny Kuruvilla)

Lee held a number of hunger strikes, even lasting 26 days. In 1993, when there was no internet, he organized more than 15,000 small farmers from across the world to protest in Geneva, Switzerland, where the WTO’s meeting was being held. But the big companies used police force and threw them out and instead promised the local governments of more jobs and more money. The local governments, fooled by the carrot of development, allowed further foreign imports, which effectively murdered many more farmers.

The WTO’s next high level meeting was held in Cancun in Mexico in 2003. Lee Kyung-Hae led another large army of small farmers and peasants who were still fighting for their right to grow food. But their protest was ignored in totality by mainstream media. On September 10^th 2003, when the protest reached the final barricade which separated the rich from the poor, he stood atop the barricade and plunged a knife into his heart and died. On the other side of the barricade, the big companies and governments continued to discuss new free trade deals.

WTO kills farmers. It really kills. Remember martyr Lee Kyung-Hae. (Photo: Benny Kuruvilla)

If it was Lee Kyung-Hae in Korea, it was Vittal Arabhavi in Karnataka who committed suicide over the low price of sugarcane, because we are now importing cheap sugar. India is a much bigger, poorer and hungrier country. We cannot trade away the lives of our farmers. Agriculture is not just their profession. It is their culture, their life. If a woman is raped every one hour in India, a farmer commits suicide every half an hour because of the cycle of debt caused by free trade. 

The WTO is all over the news now, except that the media talks only in favour of the big companies who sponsor them. Talk about the negative aspects. Share it on social media. If your company trades with other countries, make sure you are not sacrificing any livelihoods. We are Indians first and not corporate employees.

Breaking News from the WTO 9th Minesterial at Bali: Defending the Poor and Hungry is Non-Negotiable!

On the occasion of the Ninth Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Bali, Indonesia, several farmers’ organisations, trade unions, mass organisations and peoples’ campaigns resolved to support the Indian Government’s position to not trade away national food security.

Protest at the 9th WTO Minesterial, Bali, Indonesia

The group welcomes the decision of the Indian Cabinet on 28^th November to reject any peace clause that does not guarantee a permanent solution.  The peace clause has been widely opposed by the Chairs of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce and Agriculture, several political parties including the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left parties, and mass organisations.

Kannaiyan (wearing the green cap), secretary of the SICCFM, at the WTO conference venue

 However, the group cautioned the Indian negotiating team headed by Commerce Minister Mr. Anand Sharma, not to bow to any pressure to weaken India’s position on defending and upholding national food security as a sovereign right. The group declared that the safeguarding and promotion of the country’s food security, rural employment and livelihoods are non-negotiable, and that food security cannot be ensured without supporting agricultural production by small and marginal farmers

Nandini Jayaram, women's coordinator of SICCFM, also defending the rights of farmers, at Bali

The group reminds the WTO members that no country needs to be on the defensive about protecting the right to food and fighting hunger in their countries.  And that aggressively upholding the rights of its citizens is not tantamount to collapsing the ministerial talks.  On the contrary, such pressure tactics must be exposed as a conspiracy to keep people hungry and poor.

It was decided that the group would closely monitor the negotiations during the ministerial meeting to ensure that the interests of the poor and hungry are not compromised in any way.

The following groups are currently in Bali, as the voices of millions of Indian farmers.

Action Aid India

Bhartiya Kisan Union

Bharatiya Krishak Samaj

Bharatiya Majdoor Sangh

Focus on the Global South India

Great Mission Group Consultancy

Public Services International

Right to Food Campaign

Shram Seva Nyas

South Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers’ Movements

Swadeshi JagranManch

Third World Network India

News article published in Indian media against the WTO conference at Bali

Farmers to picket Mangalore port against WTO conference - The Hindu - Nov 29th 2013

Members of the South Indian Inter-State Coordination Committee of Farmers’ Organisations will stage a protest by picketing the harbour operated by New Mangalore Port Trust in Mangalore on December 3 against the 9th Ministerial conference of World Trade Organisation (WTO) that will be held in Bali in Indonesia, working president of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) K.T. Gangadhar has said.

The policies of WTO are against the interests of the farmers and below poverty line families in India. A meeting of farmers’ organisations of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Goa and Maharashtra was held in Bangalore on November 17 and 18 and it decided to stage protest against WTO Ministerial conference. More than 2,500 farmers will take part in the protest, Mr. Gangadhar told presspersons here on Thursday.

India has recently passed Food Security Bill which guarantees foodgrains at subsidised prices for the poor families. India also procures foodgrains under minimum support price (MSP) from the farmers when there is fall in the price of agricultural produce. The food grains procured at MSP are distributed among the poor families at subsidised prices through the food security programmes. The cap imposed by WTO on its member nations on offering food subsidies and extending MSPs are unscientific, he said.

When the agriculture subsidy in the member nation crosses the permissible limit, WTO can impose fine. Under the Food Security Bill, India will provide 5 kilo subsidised foodgrains for 67 per cent of its population. If the Act is fully implemented, the cap on food subsidy offered by WTO will be breached. Prior to the Bali conference, WTO is pressuring India to withdraw the Food Security Bill passed by the Parliament and thereby has insulted the sovereignty of the nation, he said.

As per the direction of WTO, India has lifted quantitative restrictions on import of agricultural produce due to which there was a sharp in the price of foodgrains grown by the farmers here. The import of sugar, silk, pulses and milk powder at cheap price that has harmed the interests of the farmers here should be stopped immediately, he said.

The farmers will also take out a protest march from the railway station in Mangalore city at 11 a.m. to the Mangalore port, he said. Functionaries of KRRS Yashwanth Rao and D.V. Veeresh, Umapathi were present in the press conference.

Ninth Ministerial Conference of WTO will be held in Indonesia from December 3 to 6.

‘The policies of WTO are against the interests of the farmers and BPL families in India’