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'WTO cannot be blamed for our inaction'

Even as the world prepares for a new round of trade talks at Doha in November this year, the question being asked is how is India going to present its case.

The Indian stance on world trade has already drawn flak from the United States Trade Representative Robert Zoellick when he was in New Delhi recently.

Ever since quantitative restrictions on imports of agricultural products were lifted in April 1, this year, stories about how our farmers are incurring losses have hit headlines.

It is against this background that the views of agricultural professionals like Dr M S Swaminathan, who heads the World Trade Organisation cell in Kerala, matters.

Swaminathan spoke to Shobha Warrier about the country's agricultural scenario post April 1, his plans for Kerala and the concept of 'Livelihood Box'.

In January, you said the WTO pact on agriculture would kill Indian farmers. Now, the Kerala government has reported that farmers suffered a huge loss due to the effects of WTO regime.

Today's crisis in the Indian economy is really the crisis of the agricultural sector, which has led to inadequate purchasing power in our villages. Unless rural India has more money, it will not have the capacity to buy goods.

Nearly 65 million tonnes of foodgrains is available with the government. The minimum support price and the market price are almost the same. This indicates the lack of purchasing power of over 75 per cent of the population.

Therefore, revival of agriculture is the basis for the revival of Indian economy. A few scams here and there divert our attention to peripheral issues, not that these issues should be condoned.

But the fact is that they distract our attention from the root causes of the problems of economic crisis in the country, slowing down of the economy, low value of the rupee in relation to the dollar, our inability to export food commodities, and growing joblessness.

Modern western economies are characterised by jobless economic growth because efficiency is measured by downsizing of organisations; also because of replacement of human beings with machinery. But in a country like ours, with over a billion people, and with 17 million children born every year, we cannot afford to have jobless economic growth.

We need job-led growth and not job-less growth. And, job-led growth is possible only in the countryside, that is, agriculture: crop husbandry, fisheries, animal husbandry, forestry and food processing.

And this has to be the engine of growth and employment-creation.

As a result of globalisation, there is also competition between factory farming and farmer farming.

Factory farming as practised in industrialised countries is very large-scale agri-business; it is not farming. Farmer farming is both a way of life and means to livelihood.

From April 1, when quantitative restrictions were removed, several things have happened. Of course, even without restrictions, we have been getting imports of large quantities of pulses and oil seeds. Horticultural products, poultry products are also coming in.

One good impact is that although much of this is marketed in the urban supermarkets, they have shown quality and consistency.

Our grading, marketing and processing are very poor. We produce 130 million tonnes fruits and vegetables and hardly 2 per cent is processed.

So, the lesson is, from 1994 when we signed the world agreement on agriculture, we have not really looked in depth into the preparatory steps needed to meet the challenge arising out of the agreement.

You were quite angry with the decision-makers, as they showed no willingness to listen to the warning signals sent out by professionals.

We have been issuing warnings since 1994. Yes, I welcome the multilateral agreement, as it is always better than bilateral agreements. But then, we have neglected five areas -- market access, domestic support, food subsidy, sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures and Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights.

To augment exports we need cold storage-chains, post-harvest technology and godowns in the rural areas.

What we have done in the dairy sector should be repeated in the agriculture sector also. Giving advantages of scale to small-scale farmers in processing, marketing and value addition will prove to be beneficial.

But we have been sleeping all these years. Today, we put all the blame on WTO. WTO cannot be blamed for our inaction.

Finally on August 9, Parliament passed the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Science Act, and that is a good sign. But do you know that we had given the first draft, called the Madras Draft in 1994?

For the first time in the world, the rights of farmers and that of the breeders have been considered concurrently, and not separately, and it is a significant development.

We have taken the first step. But we do not have the Biodiversity Bill. Our Patents Act is still to be improved. So what we have to do first is protect our own intellectual property rights.

For example, if you see the technology achievement index of the UNDP's Human Development Report, 2001, which is on technology, it puts us at rank number 63 among 72 countries.

And, we were considering ourselves technologically advanced. Why do they rank us so low? Because they have used the number of patents taken per capita and the royalty we have been able to get (per capita) as indicators of technology creation.

Here, we come very low because we do not have many patents.

The other matter that I do not agree with is their index. They have measured technology achievement in terms of proprietary science and our science is mostly public science. But that is the trend the world over.

The 1994 agreement of the WTO was tilted heavily in favour of the industrialised countries because they prepared the draft, and they put all precautions. There is no point in looking back; yesterday is yesterday, and tomorrow is what matters.

Can Indian farmers exploit the situation and gain access to international markets?

Yes, they can. There are genuine opportunities in WTO for us to capture large markets in many commodities -- not only fruits, vegetables and medicinal plants but also value added products like hybrid seeds.

In fact, 10 years ago when the WTO was discussed, I said at the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation lecture that we could capture 25 per cent of the world's seed trade, only if we plan properly and prepare ourselves.

We have inexpensive labour, sunlight throughout the year, and we can produce a lot of organic seeds.

In fact, we at our foundation have trained tribals in Kolli Hills in Tamil Nadu to produce organic pineapples and we have started exporting, and the first 50 tonnes have already gone to Germany.

You along with Dr Kurien are going to head the WTO cell of Kerala. What are your plans for Kerala?

Kerala's economy, in future, will depend on green health tourism as in many countries in Europe. France gets much of its money from tourism. The whole of Hawaii survives on tourism.

For Kerala, its economy is going to be helped by its Ayurvedic tradition and green health.

Kerala's agriculture depends on plantation crops and much of the crisis is not under their control although it can be managed to some extent.

It is a bit early for me to say what we can do for Kerala. I have requested the government to analyse all the five areas that I had mentioned earlier, like domestic support, export subsidy, sanitation, etc. and, they are preparing a draft.

Next week, I will go there, (Kerala) and go through it.

My idea is to equip the state so that it can be globally competitive. The yields of Kerala's plantation crops except rubber are very low.

I want them to develop a bio-valley in the area that spreads from Wayand to Kalpatta through the Silent Valley reserve forest area.

That is where the Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala and others are located. This is the epicenter of Kerala's medicinal plants. We have to develop a lot of infrastructure there for the development of good seeds. A number of small enterprises can come up there.

The whole area can be developed as a Bio Valley, like the Silicon Valley.

Silicon Valley, they say triggered the digital development. I want the medicinal bio valley to trigger the green health revolution.

Now that Tamil Nadu and Karnataka also have WTO cells, are you happy that at least some states have woken up?

In Tamil Nadu and Karnataka the so-called WTO cells are headed by bureaucrats! What we have in Kerala is not a big cell but a small think-tank headed by Kurien and myself. I have advised against any open-ended commission. So, I have told the Kerala government that it will be a time-bound commission and I will give a report in six months' time. After that, we will wind it up.

Do you see the attitude of Kerala in setting up a WTO cell as a positive signal for the things to come in future?

Definitely. (Chief Minister A K) Antony is a very nice person and a modern thinker too. But Kerala politics has its own limitations. What we need is political will, professional skill and people's participation if we want to emerge out of the crisis. People should shed their criticising mentality.

See, Indian farmers are running a handicapped race against sprinters.

One good sign is that even the rich countries are talking about poverty eradication these days.

You had asked for a 'Livelihood Box' to tide over the crisis posed by the WTO regime, in the developing countries. Now that the World Trade meet is going to take place in Doha in November, do you think the 'Livelihood Box' concept will be taken up?

Government of India is taking it up but they are not using the word, 'Livelihood Box' but 'Food Security Box'. In my view, it is a wrong tactic because food security in the western concept is food reserve. And, they all know that we have over 65 million tonnes of food reserve. They may say, if your people are starving, it is your responsibility.

But 'Livelihood' has a different connotation. It is job, income, job led growth, factory farming versus farmers' farming and mass production versus production by masses.

Livelihood has a different significance too, which the Indian government didn't understand!

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