Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
regularly utilizes this play on words to criticize the change in agriculture
in his home district.
Because Kerala's agriculture now revolves around tradable commod-
ities, its agrarian sector is impacted by global prices, international pol-
icy, and foreign trade. W hen India joined the World Trade Organization
(WTO) on January 1, 1995, and agreed to the market and export principles
of the WTO's Agreement on Agriculture (AoA), farmers in Kerala found
themselves vulnerable to global markets in unprecedented ways.40
The AoA represents an international effort by several countries and
multinational corporations to regulate global agricultural trade more sys-
tematically, by reducing domestic agricultural subsidies and eliminating
import tariffs on foreign goods. In early AoA negotiations, Indian offi-
cials argued that developing countries deserved to have some flexibility
in making these changes and regulating their own agricultural sectors, to
protect their farmers from international competition. At the time, Indian
agriculture was structured in such a way that farmers had come to rely on
subsidies for cheap fertilizer inputs and a protected internal market for
several of their cash crops.41
India's negotiations with the WTO remain ongoing. However, soon
after joining the WTO, the Indian government pursued several free mar-
ket reforms as a demonstration of its commitment to liberalization, in-
cluding lowering tariffs on certain food imports. Policy makers viewed
opening up the market in the agricultural sector as one way of stimulating
national economic growth, potentially leading to poverty reduction in
the country. Yet removing restrictions on certain foreign goods created
stiff competition for Kerala's agricultural products—such as coconut oil,
tea, pepper, and cofee—in the domestic market.42 For example, when
lawmakers reduced the national import tariff on edible oil, this resulted in
the increase of palm and other oils imported into the country, which then
led to the fall of coconut prices in states like Kerala, where coconut oil has
been a staple in its cuisine and where production of the oil is a source of
traditional labor.
43
Cooks have begun to replace coconut oil with cheaper
oil, and other commodities customarily grown in Kerala, such as tea, are
now being imported into the state.44 As a result, cultivating these crops is
