Take up issue of grain stock holding at WTO: Badal to PM

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to forcefully take up the issue of public stock holdings of foodgrains at WTO for food security of the nation.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference will be held in Nairobi (Kenya) from December 15-18.
Badal has expressed concerns about Punjab farmers, who he says have been ensuring food security of country for the last four decades.
In a letter to Modi today, the Chief Minister highlighted the apprehensions of the state and its farming communities "about the likely outcome of this Ministerial Conference".
Badal, according to a Punjab government release, said that fear was being expressed by the farming community in the state about the attempts by the developed countries to close the negotiations on Doha Development Agenda at the Nairobi Conference.

The Chief Minister said t was agreed at the 9th Ministerial Conference of WTO in Bali in 2013 that there was a need to update the rules under the Agreement on Agriculture with respect to public stockholding of food.

"It was also decided that until a permanent solution to this issue was found, the members would temporarily refrain from lodging complaints against any developing country for stock holding for food security purposes in excess of permissible limit. It was also agreed to 'engage constructively' for a permanent solution on the matter by the end of 2015," Badal wrote.
The Chief Minister said that in the forthcoming 10th WTO Ministerial Conference being held in Nairobi, Kenya there was a lot of debate on whether India's public stockholding could cause distortions in the world markets.

He said that current food production trends and the projected requirements indicated that India might find the stocks just adequate to meet the requirements under the National Food Security Act.
The five-time Chief Minister said that in terms of public stockholding, procurement of rice and wheat had risen over the years to provide food security to one of the fastest growing population in the world.
However, the Chief Minister said that very little proportion of public stocks of rice and wheat has been released for export purposes since 2004 by the India.
"As such, the country should strongly take up to find a permanent solution to this problem as India's stake was much higher than the developed nations."

The Chief Minister said that welfare of farmers and rural poor was directly linked to the agriculture sector.
He said that 57 per cent of Indian population was directly employed in the agriculture sector and a high percentage of rural population was totally dependent on it.
Likewise, Badal said that the agriculture sector played an important role in India in terms of GDP, employment, poverty alleviation and rural development in comparison to developed nations.
"Thus, I urge you to strongly take-up the issue of public stock holding of food-grains for food security of the nation at the Conference," Badal added.