Farmers' body warns against US deal, says protests will 'intensify' if concerns ignored
'If the Indian government moves forward with trade deals that overlook critical issues affecting our farmers, movements like ours will be compelled to intensify our protests against such anti-farmer policies. However, we are hopeful that the same sentiment which led India to wisely withdraw from the RCEP trade negotiations will prevail in this case as well,' the farmers' body said in a statement to the government amid ongoing negotiations.
In a letter to Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, the ICCFM warned that granting duty-free access to US agricultural products under a trade agreement could have serious consequences. It noted that the US has been engaged in a trade war with China, Mexico, and Canada since 2018, which has severely affected its agricultural exports.
'The US trade deficit in agriculture has nearly doubled, indicating a significant surplus they may seek to offload onto markets like India. For example, soybean exports from the US dropped from $34.4 billion in 2022 to $24.5 billion in 2024, while corn exports fell from $18.6 billion to $13.9 billion during the same period,' the letter stated.
The ICCFM further emphasised the risk to Indian farmers, stating that the US government is among the world's largest agricultural subsidisers. The 2024 Farm Bill has allocated a staggering $1.5 trillion towards farm subsidies. These substantial supports not only restrict agricultural imports into the US but also enable American products to enter export markets at artificially low prices. Allowing such heavily subsidised US imports into India, the ICCFM argued, would undermine India's longstanding position at the World Trade Organization (WTO) against these very subsidies.
Notably, a recent report by the State Bank of India (SBI) cautioned that opening India's dairy sector to US imports could result in an annual loss of Rs 1.03 lakh crore to Indian dairy farmers. The report highlighted that milk prices in India could drop by at least 15 per cent if the sector is opened up, significantly affecting the livelihoods of small dairy farmers due to the heavily subsidised US dairy industry.
The farmers' body also criticised the US for threatening Indian farmers' livelihoods at the WTO by challenging the modest support provided by the Indian government through public procurement schemes, citing alleged violations of WTO rules.
'This is despite the glaring lack of a level playing field. The US Farm Bill 2019 alone allocated $867 billion in subsidies for American farmers, whereas an OECD study indicates that the aggregate Producer Support Estimate for Indian farmers was a negative 14 per cent over 2000–2016,' the letter stated.
On the issue of edible oil, the ICCFM pointed out that the US is the world's third-largest exporter of soybean oil.
'India, once self-sufficient in edible oil, now imports nearly 70 per cent of its requirements due to anti-farmer trade policies. On 31 May, India halved the import duty on crude palm oil, soybean oil, and sunflower oil—from 20 per cent to 10 per cent—citing inflation. This duty cut, ostensibly made in the name of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), primarily benefits large importers who dominate the import and processing of crude edible oil,' the letter stated.
While former US President Donald Trump supported large American agribusinesses, India's leadership must protect its small-scale producers who feed the nation, the farmers said, adding that India has the capacity to produce more edible oil, and lowering import duties only undermines domestic cultivation—benefiting corporations at the expense of Indian farmers.
Ravi Dutta Mishra is a Principal Correspondent with The Indian Express, covering policy issues related to trade, commerce, and banking. He has over five years of experience and has previously worked with Mint, CNBC-TV18, and other news outlets. ... Read More
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