Opening up agri sector for trade with US to be suicidal: farmers

BATHINDA: The farmer organisations have asked the Indian government not to buckle under any pressure to ink any deals with the US in opening the agriculture sector in furthering the bilateral trade. The farmers have stated that such a trade pact under the threat of increasing tariffs will be suicidal, and farmers are set to lose a lot.
The US is pushing India to negotiate a large and grand bilateral trade agreement seeking opening the agriculture sector for the US businesses. The US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Friday stated that the Indian agriculture sector must open up for US products and trade adding it just can’t stay closed.
SKM leaders Balbir Singh Rajewal, Prem Singh Bhangu and Raminder Patiala said that agriculture sector is already distressed in India. It is a big employment generator and crores of people are dependent on agriculture and opening up the agriculture sector will push many of them out of farming. The farmers are sensing such policies are already opposing any such misadventure which will not be in the favour of agriculture and farmers. If the central government agrees to it, then the farmers from across the country will hold struggles”.
“The US is dictating its terms on trade and tariffs but succumbing to pressure will prove to be detrimental to the interest of farmers in particular and agriculture in general. This amounts to the implementation of WTO dictates in toto against which farmers in country are fighting since long. Such a move of handing over the agriculture to corporates and multinational companies will not be tolerated and to combat this onslaught, countrywide agitation will be launched”. They warned the government that opening the floodgates to rich countries to penetrate in agriculture will destroy the domestic agriculture and thus the Indian economy because our economy is agri based.
Farm forums Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, Sanyukt Kisan Morcha Non-Political, Kisan Mazdoor Morcha have opposed any such move and asked the central government to stay away from any trade pact with the US by opening up the agriculture sector
In the meanwhile, food policy analyst Devinder Sharma has stated that if reports of India buckling under the pressure of Donald Trump are true it will be suicidal for Indian agriculture. India has nothing to fear from reciprocal tariffs. By denying US more market access into India, India will stand to gain.
“In WTO as well as Free Trade Agreements which are usually, bilateral, the Indian government usually sacrifices the interests of farmers for some imagined benefits for other sectors. Now, this pressure from the US means that Indian farmers will be made to compete with a heavily subsidized American agricultural sector, in effect getting priced out. We need the Indian government to stand firmly on the side of our farmers. Otherwise, we will witness more farm suicides”, said farmer and social rights activist Kavita Kuruganti.
However, Bharat Krishak Samaj Chairman Ajay Vir Jakhar stated that “the US push for easier access to agriculture markets is inevitable and equally so, we farmers should be prepared to accept compromises that will have to be made by India in the larger interest of the country”.