MULTAN, April 14: Hundreds of farmers from various parts of the country participated in a rally held here on Thursday to protest against the WTO regime and the ongoing negotiations on Agreement on Agriculture (AoA). The rally was jointly organized by the Pakistan Kissan Ittehad, Farmers Vision Forum, Sustainable Agriculture Action Group and WTO Watch Group.

The rally started from the Multan Arts Council and culminated at the State Bank Square. The participants were carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans in favour of a just system of international agricultural trade and against the AoA tilt towards the rich countries.

The speakers at the rally condemned the huge subsidies given by the rich countries to their agriculture sector and urged the government to not to budge before the pressure of the countries who held sway at the WTO. They alleged that the rich countries wanted to dictate terms which better suited their own economies rather than those of the developing countries.

They demanded that the government should ensure food security, livelihood options and rural development. They said the farmers belonged to the most vulnerable segment of the economy, and they were bound to suffer if there was a free flow of agricultural goods coming into the country from the countries where farm sector was highly subsidized.

They urged the government to have maximum number of crops which should be free from any reduction commitment under AoA. They said that the agricultural products from the countries like Pakistan might not reach the rich countries with highly protected markets.

Moreover, they said, the rich countries (OECD countries) were providing about $1 billion subsidies daily to their farm sector. Therefore, the agricultural products from developing countries could not compete with the same from the rich countries in the international market, they said, and demanded elimination of all subsidies given to the farm sector in the developed countries.

The speakers urged the legislators to discuss in the parliament every issue pertaining to WTO, and the corresponding position of the government. They further demanded that the future head of the WTO should be selected from among the developing countries.

Earlier, a seminar was held at the Arts Council, where most of the speakers criticized the government for what they called its anti-grower policies. They alleged the government had been disbursing billions of rupees among the industrialists and the traders in the name of subsidizing the growers.