LAHORE, Sept 8: The Pakistan Kissan Board asked the government on Monday to either match the western subsidies on agriculture or resist the WTO pressure in this regard.

Speaking at a press conference, PKB President Sadiq Khaqwani and Secretary-General Ibrahim Mughal asked the government to be careful at the Cancun Conference because any mishandling of two issues — intellectual property rights and patent — could hurt the country.

Pakistan made a mistake of accepting the WTO without assessing its full impact. “Now, the country needs to be extra careful in the face of its ill-effects,” observed the farmer heads.

They said the European Union was spending over $350 billion on farms subsidies annually, but at the same time forced countries like Pakistan to go into negative subsidies. This hurt the farmers in the developing countries, they added.

They also expressed concern over what they called the role of non-stakeholders. “The Cancun Moot will discuss agricultural issues for which the government has dispatched the commerce minister.”

The government, the PKB heads alleged, had not bothered to consult any farmers body about the summit. All this showed that it was ill-prepared to deal with the demands of the moot, they said, fearing that farmers might have to foot the bill for official ignorance.

They said the Punjab chief minister had shown interest after beginning his term (of the office), but now he seemed the least interested.

The WTO regime in this form would generate poverty and unemployment, and transfer wealth from the poor countries to the rich ones, they feared.

The farmer heads suggested the government that it should try to modify the WTO regime according to its national interest, as has been done by other countries. Otherwise, they feared that the farmers would be the worst hit.