WTO developments should not affect India's agri sector: Shettar

Hubli, July 27 (UNI) Karnataka Revenue Minister Jagadish Shettar today said the country had to ensure that the developments in World Trade Organisation (WTO) did not adversely affect its agriculture sector.

Inaugurating a seminar on ''WTO and its implications,'' organised by the Export Promotion Cell of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industries here, he said ''It is a matter of concern that developed countries are giving huge amount of subsidies to their agriculture sector...It can be detrimental for our economic growth as 70 per cent of our population is dependent on agriculture,'' he added.

Mr Shettar said after the recent failure of talks at Geneva, there was need to organise more such workshops at local level and in smaller cities so that the stakeholders were aware of the implications of WTO agreements on their business and activities.

He said it was very strange that India being a founder-member of WTO was still in a disadvantageous position. Developing countries represent 90 per cent of farmers in the world, but still their share in world agricultural trade was very small. Whereas, in European countries and United States only two per cent of their population took to agriculture, but still they accounted for 50 per cent of world trade in agriculture, he lamented.

About 120 delegates from all over the state participated in the seminar.

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