WTO: India in favor of finalizing the permanent solution of PSH, said- issues pending for 11 years
WTO: The Public Stock Holding (PSH) program is a policy instrument under which the government purchases crops such as rice and wheat from farmers at Minimum Support Price (MSP) and stores and distributes food grains to the poor.
On February 26, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) held its 13th Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi. India presented a compelling case for concluding the permanent solution to Public Stock Holding (PSH) and providing a permanent solution at the Ministerial Conference (MC) during the talks session on Tuesday. Let us tell you, this has been pending for 11 years.
Notably, the government buys crops from farmers at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for things like rice and wheat, then stores and gives food grains to the underprivileged through the Public Stock Holding (PSH) programme.
Three mandates from the Bali Ministerial Decision (2013), the Nairobi Ministerial Decision (2015), and the General Council Decision (2014) on PSH were recalled by India.
India contended that the real concerns should be people's livelihood and food security, not just the trade interests of the exporting nations. India emphasised that the fight against hunger in developing nations cannot be won in the absence of a lasting resolution to PSH, the WTO's most significant and unresolved mandate issue.
India emphasised that the issue was so important that a resolution on it was co-sponsored by more than 80 countries from the G33 group of countries, the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Group (ACP), and African organisations, together accounting for more than 61% of the world's population. There are 47 developing and least developed nations in the G33 group. In a joint statement, the G33 group also said it is a developing country's right to use the Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM) as an important instrument against major import increases or sudden price declines.
India also recalled the huge variation in actual per-farmer domestic assistance provided by different countries, as notified to the WTO. Some developed countries provide subsidies 200 times more than those provided by developing countries, the statement said. It was the duty of membership to ensure a level playing field in international agricultural trade for millions of low-income or resource-poor farmers.
