Agricultural Liberalisation: A Prerequisite to WTO Advantage

Abstract

One of the major agreements that were concluded in the Uruguay round of negotiations signed in Marrakesh in April 1994 was the agreement on agriculture. (AOA). It is argued intensively that Indian agriculture will benefit immensely with developed countries complying with the WTO norms. But various questions are being raised about India's preparedness to globalise with the world agriculture. It becomes imperative for us to explore few basic questions regarding AOA. I.e. what is India's interest and options with respect to AOA? What should India forcefully negotiate in order to reap maximum from AOA in future? What is the role government can play in making farmers realise the benefit of the new agricultural regime under WTO? This paper is an attempt to address the above-mentioned issues. It is divided into four sections. First section deals with the agreement on agriculture and the progress made so far. Second section reviews the expected benefit, which is expected to accrue to Indian agriculture. Third section looks at the constraints, which needs to be tackled if Indian agriculture has to make the most out of AOA.

Keywords: Agriculture WTO and India

JEL Classification: J18