ISLAMABAD, Sept 15: Civil society organisations have urged the government to protect the interests of small farmers in the current WTO negotiations.The Sustainable Agriculture Action Group (Saag) — a group of NGOs and farmers – in a statement issued here on Saturday said that agriculture is backbone of the country on which the livelihood of around 70 per cent population depends.

A majority of them are small farmers. They need protection so that they could intensify their role in maximising (both quantitatively and qualitatively) agricultural production not only for themselves but also to help country’s economy on a sustainable basis.

The Saag is of the opinion that Pakistan needs to know the ground realities and protect its agriculture, small farmers and peasants.

The group said that Pakistan’s position is in contradiction with the G33 (a group of developing countries with focus to protect the interests of small, poor and vulnerable farmers) position on protection of agriculture and small farmers.

This has sent a confused message since Pakistan is a member of the G33. It was feared that Pakistan is recently serving the interests of national and international lobbies and influential countries who would like to divide and cheat poor countries in the WTO negotiations.

WTO is rushing towards an unfair, non-transparent and exclusive deal without respecting the rights of poor countries and commitments made with them.

Negotiation on Agreement on Agriculture (AOA) has started at the WTO and only a small group of 35 members are invited in the small room for negotiation with the first agenda on market access.

The current negotiations are the last opportunity for Pakistan to protect its farmers in the WTO. If this opportunity is lost, it would hurt millions of poor farmers of Pakistan, the group asserted.