Why India needs transgenic crops

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

>Michael Perelman wrote:
>
>>The problem is that cheap, subsidized  grain hurts ag. production in the
>>poor countries, driving more people to the cities, causing problems.
>
>So what's the takeway, as the nonprofit types say? That the U.S. 
>should garage the farm equipment, empty the cities, and send us all 
>back to the land, or that it's an urgent priority that poor 
>countries mechanize their agriculture? Or is there some third option 
>I'm missing?
>
>Doug

*****   In the Uruguay Round of tariff reductions, concluded in 1994, 
the West pledged to reduce agricultural subsidies by 36 percent; in 
return, the developing countries would lower their tariffs on 
agricultural imports. The developing countries met their part of the 
bargain by halving their average tariffs. The developed countries 
reneged: subsidies have in recent years made up almost 40 percent of 
the value of Western farm output-about the same as when Uruguay 
started. Of the $90 billion spent on crop supports over the past five 
years, some $60 billion went to the top 10 percent of 
recipients-Fortune 500 companies, city-dwelling farm owners, and big 
agribusiness. The average subsidy to the bottom 80 percent, 
meanwhile, was $5,830. These subsidies price the developing 
countries' foodstuffs not only out of possible export markets but 
also out of their home markets.

<http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2002/02/beatty.htm>   *****
-- 
Yoshie

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