India seeks support for system to raise farm import duties

India is working to build a consensus among developing nations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to push for a special safeguard mechanism (SSM) that will let them temporarily raise agricultural import duties, a person aware of the matter said. The trade body’s 13th inter-ministerial meeting will be held in Abu Dhabi in February.

- Puja Das & Ravi Dutta Mishra

While almost all developed members have the flexibility to protect their farmers through Special (Agricultural) Safeguards (SSGs), most developing members don’t, leading to differences at WTO. Countries routinely resort to tariff hikes to protect their agricultural producers from the adverse impacts of import surges and price declines.

Negotiations on the politically sensitive subject of agriculture is one of India’s key priorities for the meeting, as it looks to gain greater policy space at WTO to ensure domestic food security at a time of volatile global food prices in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war.

“Demand for the special safeguard mechanism was recognized in the Nairobi Ministerial Declaration of 2015, but due to the lack of consensus, the SSM continues to be stuck. India is currently seeking a simple, operable and accessible non-onerous SSM for developing countries," the person cited above said on condition of anonymity.