Make India remove agricultural subsidy before granting MFN: Agri Forum warns
Posted by Labels: India, Pakistan, Trade Agreements
Pakistani growers can provide vegetables, fruits, and other agricultural commodities on 25 per cent lower rates than the Indian farmers provided rates of fertiliser, diesel and electricity in Pakistan are brought at par with India for the agricultural sector.
This was claimed by Agri Forum Pakistan chairman Muhammad Ibrahim Mughal while talking to media men on Thursday. Presently input costs for agriculture, livestock, fisheries and poultry are three times higher in Pakistan than in India due to which, Pakistani agricultural produce is expensive in the market, Mughal claimed.
The Agri Forum Chairman stated that the lobby behind declaring India as Most Favored Nation (MFN) should always remember that the cost of agriculture is two to three times higher in Pakistan than India. India was extending Rs1300 billion (in Pak rupee) annual subsidy to its agricultural sector to keep input cost lower. There is no such law or steps taken by the government in Pakistan in this regard, he added.
He said that if growers in Pakistan are given diesel and electricity on rates at par with that in India, prices of agricultural commodities could be lowered by 25 per cent in Pakistan. It would also help increasing the per acre yield, they said.
Ibrahim Mughal said that even India could not extend such a large subsidy to its agricultural sector under the WTO. Mughal suggested that the lobby pushing for the MFN status should first exert pressure on India to withdraw subsidy to its agricultural sector. If input costs in both the countries are brought at par then there was no harm in opening trade, he concluded.
The Express Tribune
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