G-33 makes submission on special products

ISLAMABAD—In a bid to give direction to the process of identification of special products in agriculture by developing countries which would be given additional protection at the World TradeOrganisation (WTO), the G-33 group of developing countries has come up with an illustrative list of indicators.
G-33, which comprises 40 countries including Pakistan and India, has made a submission to the committee on agriculture that the list has been designed to provide guidelines to developing country members on how to approach the designation of products as special products based on the already agreed criteria (food security, livelihood security and rural development), and contribute to transparency, a report said.
In the area of food security, the submission lays down that if the consumption needs of a country for a product are limited or if there are only a limited number of sources of the product, or if the world trade volume is relatively small compared to demand, then imports whichdepress domestic production can lead to high vulnerability in case of any form of international disruption in supplies. For assessing the relative importance of livelihood security, the paper suggests a complement of different approaches. If the majority of farmers producing a particular product are low income, any disruption caused by imports will drive them to deprivation or starvation. The submission points out that the share of total domestic production of a product grown on small farms or operation holdings indicates heir importance of the product to livelihood security.
It adds that products grown in the disadvantaged geographical regions are important because a number of constraints such as lack of infrastructure, technology and irrigation facilities, limit the capacity of the people to diversify their livelihood strategies.—INP