Farming Can’t be Sacrificed at Altar of Trade

Context: India needs to protect its domestic dairy sector while negotiating trade deals with other countries. 

Concerns associated with India’s dairy sector:

• Capturing of export market by the United States of America (USA):

• Expansion of corporate farming: In the USA has resulted in surplus milk production, leading to a fall in prices and closing down of farms.

• Around 3,000 dairy farms closed down in 2019.

• The USA is looking for export market: due to domestic slowdown. For E.g.

• Mexico allowed the import of certain US cheeses. 
• Kenya is also under a lot of pressure to allow US dairy products.
• India too is under pressure to open its dairy sector to American imports.

• Multilateral Commitments

• Lower duty import pressure: India had in June imported 10,000 tonnes of milk and milk products at a lower import duty, at times when the prices have crashed.

• Against Minimum Support Price: Although India has defended the higher MSP under a peace clause exemption, sooner or later, India will have to remove it.

• Recent ordinances bringing in corporate agriculture appear to be in sync with WTO Policy and will restrict the product-specific support under MSP.

• Declining Domestic Dairy Sector: Between 2000 and 2016, India has seen almost 52 lakh small farmers quitting dairy,

Way Forward:

• Resist more opening: India must continue to refuse to open up to American farm commodity exports, especially soybean, poultry and dairy. 

• Last June, in retaliation, India raised tariffs on 28 products, including walnuts, almonds, apples, Bengal gram and masur dal.
• Later, in November, India walked out of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) treaty, realising that the country would be flooded by imports, mostly in agriculture.

• Encourage Self-reliance: With Atmanirbhar Bharat being the new vision, agriculture should be given equal emphasis along with the trade.