Jaitley on offensive as India takes up fight on agriculture subsidies

India was on the offensive on Tuesday attacking the United States and European Union for being responsible for depressed farm prices hurting poor farmers in developing countries because of high domestic support and export subsidies in industrialised nations.

"We made it amply clear the fact that depressed farm prices due to heavy domestic support and export subsidies in US and EU was hurting farmers in countries like India most as they were not getting remunerative prices for their produce," Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley is believed to have told US trade representative Robert Zoellick and EU Trade Commissioner, Pascal Lamy when he met them separately for one-to-one bilateral meeting in Cancun on Tuesday.

From a defensive stance, India was offensive on this issue and Jaitley was categorical in telling US and EU that reforms in agriculture should start first in Europe and America as farmers in poor countries were hurt because of their subsidies, raising serious livelihood concerns.

It was not the question of less distorting or more distorting subsidies as was being made out particularly by EU on agriculture negotiations at WTO, Jaitley, who indulged in some plain speaking on the eve of WTO ministerial in Cancun told both Lamy and Zoellick.

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