ri lt re and ood ana ement 8.41
(c) Modifying crop management practices; is no exception to it, better say it has been among
improving water management; the few countries in the world spear-heading the
(d) Adopting new farm practices such as campaign against the biased provisions of the
resource-conserving technologies; WTO concerning agriculture.
(e) Crop diversification; improving pest India was skeptical about the issue even before
management; joining the organisation, but once it became a part
(f) Making available timely weather- of it, it started assessing the situation objectively
based advisories; and moved towards crisis mitigation. Globalisation
as such opened unlimited prospects for the
(g) Crop insurance; and harnessing the
economies, but at the same time brought several
indigenous technical knowledge of
challenges too. Yes, the challenges were different
farmers.
in nature for the developed and the developing
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research countries. We need to enquire the prospects and
has initiated a scheme on National Initiative the challenges brought by the WTO for Indian
on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA). The agriculture.
initiative has been planned as a multi-disciplinary, Had the agriculture of the leading and
multi-institutional effort covering crops, livestock politically vocal developing economies not be of
and fisheries, and focusing mainly on adaptation subsistence level, the course of the world would
and mitigation of climate change in agriculture. have been completely different. It is the biggest
It also has a component for demonstration of hurdle in the process of globalisation and the success
climate-coping technologies on farmers’ fields of the World Trade Organization. Yes, the process
in 100 most vulnerable districts. State-of-the- of converting the sector into an industry has already
art infrastructure is being set up at key research started in most of the leading developing economies
institutes to undertake frontier research on climate amidst tough resistance from the farmers, political
change adaptation and mitigation. parties and the NGOs alike.
wto And tHe IndIAn AGrIculture: the ProsPects
ProsPects And cHAllenGes The oldest and the first document regarding the
impact of the implementation of the provisions
With the operationalisation of the provisions of the WTO, Uruguay Round (1995–2005)
of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the was prepared jointly by the World Bank, the
process of globalisation commenced in the major GATT54 and the OECD55. According to the joint
parts of the world—the non-member countries,
in the coming few years, also started negotiating 54. General Agreement on Trade and Tariff (GATT) was
a multi-lateral arrangement (not an organisation like
for entry into the club. There has always been WTO whose deliberations are binding on the member
an air of confusion among the members and the countries) promoting multi-lateral world trade. Now the
non-members of the WTO in assessing the pros GATT has been replaced by the WTO (since January.
1995).
and cons of globalisation on the health of their
55. Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
economies. The sector which has created the Development (OECD) was set up as a world body of the
highest number of deliberations in the WTO developed economies from the Euro-American region,
as well as views and counterviews has been which today includes countries from Asia, too (such as
apan and South orea . he first idea of glo alisation
agriculture—an area of utmost concern for the was proposed by the OECD in the early 1980s at one
developed and the developing worlds alike. India of its Annual Meet (at Brussels).