Developing Nations Protecting Poor Farmers Proving Contentious Amiti Sen NEW DELHI PROTECTING poor farmers in developing countries against cheap farm imports in the ongoing Doha round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is proving to be a bone of contention between developed and developing countries. The committee on agriculture (CoA) chairman Crawford Falconer has been forced to postpone the next meeting of the agriculture negotiations scheduled later this week as a common ground on the issue, as well as others including tropical products, remains elusive. He hopes to hold the meeting in the middle of next week. According to sources, Mr Falconer informed delegates that his consultations with individual delegations or small groups are continuing constructively and "there is good reason to believe that they will continue at least into the first half of next week'. This means the chairman wants more time to reach a stage in his discussions that could give him reason to move to the next level, an official source said. India has objected to the provisions of special safeguard measures (SSM) in the latest draft circulated by the chair. SSMs give developing countries the authority to increase import duties on specific farm products beyond the levels at which they have been bound at WTO if there is a sudden increase in volume of imports or a fall in domestic prices. These are known as triggers. India's contention is the triggers listed in the draft are set at such high levels that they would be ineffective in preventing a surge in exports when the need arises, and could result in losses. Indian farmers too are agitated over the inadequate protection being provided for them in WTO text. In a nationwide consultation on Wednesday, farmers from all parts of the country stressed that if their interests couldn't be protected at WTO, India should opt out of the negotiations. Developed countries, including the US and Australia, do not want SSMs to be too stringent as they argue it would prove to be a barrier for exports. Mr Falconer further said it was still unclear whether his consultations with small groups and individual members would produce enough progress to discuss among a broader membership. So, the next meeting of the 37 representative delegations would be to assess the situation and, if progress has been made, to work on what has been achieved. Attempts are being made to reach a consensus on broad issues related to both agriculture and Nama (industrial goods) so that a mini-ministerial meeting could take place soon to finalise the modalities in both areas. This would pave the path for conclusion of the Doha agreement which includes a number of issues like services and rules. Nath, Schwab in talks to narrow differences COMMERCE and industry minister Kamal Nath and USTR Susan Schwab are holding discussions in Washington to narrow differences on multilateral trade negotiations at WTO, reports Our Bureau from New Delhi. The two met on Wednesday and are meeting on Thursday to thrash out subsidy cut in agriculture and import tariffs in agriculture and industrial goods. While India wants the US to make significant reductions in trade-distorting farm subsidies and import tariffs of goods of interest to developing countries like textiles and leather products, the US wants more market access in both agriculture and industrial products.