On Friday, during a seminar on “strengthening global collaboration for tackling food insecurity,” on the sidelines of the third G20, Finance Minister and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) met in Bali Indonesia. India’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman asked the World Trade organisation (WTO) to allow India to export food from its public stockholding to nations facing a wheat crisis.
According to the WTO norms, countries are not allowed to export food grains from their public stock holdings as they are procured at subsidised rates.
World Trade Organisation food security
According to, “The WTO agreement on Agriculture it explicitly recognises the need to take account of food security both in the commitments that WTO members have made to date, which are monitored in the Committee on Agriculture, and in ongoing negotiations.
World leaders also highlighted the importance of trade for improving food security and nutrition in the commitments they made under Agenda 2030 — and in particular Sustainable Development Goal 2.
- Advertisement -
Under SDG 2b, leaders committed to “correct and prevent trade restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets”. Trade ministers contributed to progress on this target when they adopted a historic decision abolishing agricultural export subsidies and setting new rules for other forms of farm export support at the WTO’s 2015 Nairobi Ministerial Conference. Trade can improve food availability where it is scarce — and can also improve access to food by creating jobs and raising incomes. A more predictable trading system can also improve stability, another key component of food security.”
Public Stockholding for food security purposes
According to World Trade Organisation, “Public stockholding programmes are used by some governments to purchase, stockpile, and distribute food to people in need. While food security is a legitimate policy objective, some stockholding programmes are considered to distort trade when they involve purchases from farmers at prices fixed by the governments, known as “supported” or “administered” prices.
At the 2013 Bali Ministerial Conference, ministers agreed that, on an interim basis, public stockholding programmes in developing countries would not be challenged legally even if a country’s agreed limits for trade-distorting domestic support were breached. They also agreed to negotiate a permanent solution to this issue.
A decision on public stockholding taken at the 2015 Nairobi Ministerial Conference reaffirmed this commitment and encouraged WTO members to make all concerted efforts to agree on a permanent solution.”
Trade dialogues on Food
“As part of its Trade Dialogues initiative, the WTO organizes a series of “Trade Dialogues on Food”, with the aim of encouraging a debate on the role of international trade in food security. Experts from governments, non-governmental organizations, businesses, academia, think tanks and foundations discuss topical issues in food trade.”
This has been uploaded on the WTO site.
Finance Minister on Wheat from public stock
Finance Minister Sitharaman said, “WTO restriction that grains so procured cannot be brought to the market to export. It is a condition which exists from the Uruguay Round days. We have repeatedly said that (surplus) than what we have for our small farmers…we are quite willing to trade.”
she said that “India can help in reducing hunger or food insecurity but there is a hesitation on the part of WTO.” Many countries in the world are currently facing food shortages due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. A group of about 70-80 countries, led by Singapore, is pushing member countries of the WTO to accept binding commitments of not extending export restrictions on the food grains procured under the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). Many members, however, have shown their concerns regarding a blanket exemption for WFP food purchases due to domestic food security considerations. The finance minister highlighted that food, fuel, and fertilisers are global public goods, and ensuring access to these for developing and emerging economies is critical. She added, that there is an urgency to strengthen food production and the global food system. She also shared “ India’s experience, including robust gains in agriculture production, citizen-centric food security programmes and innovative delivery mechanisms such as landmark plan of ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ scheme.”
As the world will celebrate 2023 as the International Year of Millets and since India is a major millet-producing country in the world, it can ensure valuable contribution to food security in the world through millet production, Finance Minister said.
