WTO rules bar countries from exporting foodgrain from public stockholdings as it is subsidised, and may distort international prices.
This was also a key Indian demand at the 12th WTO ministerial conference in Geneva last month. However, the proposal did not make it to the package deal agreed by the 164 member-nations.
“WTO restricts grains so procured to be brought to the market for exports. It is a condition that has existed since the Uruguay Round days. We have repeatedly said more than (in excess of) what we have for our small farmers, who need the ration...we are quite willing to trade that, so that in today’s context, hunger and food insecurity can be addressed,’’ Sitharaman said.
Several countries have been hit by food shortages due to supply chain disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine war. However, there is still hesitation in the WTO on accepting this proposal, Sitharaman said while addressing a seminar on ‘Strengthening global collaboration for tackling food insecurity’.
While supplies through the World Food Programme is “one little success", more was required to be done to allow countries to supply those who “desperately" need food, she added.
“This is the time for us to review so that we do not take exogenous shocks on issues like hunger, on food. I can understand if there is a problem with fuel—I keep worrying about it—but that’s an issue (for) afterwards… The first is to get food to the poor."
Last month, WTO members decided that export restrictions imposed by countries cannot apply to food procurement by the UN’s World Food Programme.
But it shelved India’s proposal for countries to also be allowed to export foodgrain from public stocks to ensure global food security, or for non-commercial humanitarian purposes, through government-to-government arrangements. This will now be discussed along with other agriculture issues at the next ministerial conference.
Sitharaman said there is an urgent need to strengthen food production and the global food system. She also shared India’s experience in running a technology-led food security programme which facilitated subsidized food distribution to the poor during the covid-induced country-wide lockdown.
“India’s experience in ensuring no Indian remains hungry even during the severest of lockdown (was) brought in by the sheer use of technology, which enabled and ensured the social welfare measures reach them… We ensured that the identity card of the individual and his family’s details are all linked with... Aadhaar. We did not have even one incident of people waiting for food to be supplied."
Speaking at the third G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting, Sitharaman highlighted the importance of capital spending amid global uncertainties, saying India’s long-term growth prospects were embedded in its public capital expenditure programmes.
She said evidence-based policymaking was vital for resilient economic systems.
Her remarks come at a time when even after two years since the outbreak of the pandemic, key economies are grappling with inflationary pressures and a demand slowdown, amid supply chain disruptions and monetary policy tightening by central banks.
