GENEVA, Switzerland, Sept 11, 2024 (BSS) - Experts at a side event of the WTO 
Public Forum 2024 observed that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules on 
agriculture must be able to address the core spirit of agriculture by 
supporting small-scale farmers for sustainability and food security.

"Now the world has a technological advancement than ever. But we cannot 
download the food with this technology. The farmers need to produce it and 
this is the core spirit of agriculture," they mentioned.

They informed that small-scale farmers across the world are the major 
contributors to sustainability, yet they have suffered the most from the 
effects of climate change and environmental degradation.

They were speaking at the event titled "Trade rules for supporting small-
scale farming as contributors to green trade in agriculture" is jointly 
organized by the COAST Foundation, an NGO of Bangladesh, and Humundi, an NGO 
of Belgium, on Tuesday.

The speakers were Ogwuche Sunday, a Senior Counsellor with the Mission of 
Nigeria to the WTO, Jonas Jaccard of Humundi, a Brussels-based NGO, Helene 
Bank, Board Leader of Handelskampanjen, Norway, and Ranja Sengupta, Senior 
Researcher and Head of TWN India Trust.

Barkat Ullah Maruf, Director of Partnership and Development Communication of 
COAST Foundation from Bangladesh, moderated the session.

In his speech, Barkat Ullah Maruf said the small-scale farmers in Bangladesh 
are suffering most from the effects of climate change and environmental 
devastation.

"They are not able to produce crops as per their investment. At the same 
time, their engagement in global trade has been rather limited and 
precarious, made more vulnerable by global price volatility and an uncertain 
global market," he added.
 
Ogwuche Sunday said the small-scale farmers in Nigeria hardly have access to 
technology and lack capacity by a big margin to compete with the current form 
of agricultural trade negotiation.

They are the heart of agricultural production yet they are out of the 
discussion, he added.

Jonas Jaccard said, the EU is one of the biggest negotiators of agriculture 
in WTO yet the small-scale farmers across the European countries are 
suffering from the price fall of the agricultural products due to the unfair 
form of subsidy rules of WTO.

Helene Bank said in her speech that the small-scale farmers know the local 
knowledge and how to use the local resources better.

They are suffering not because of the poor financing but of the poor policy, 
she added.

Ranja Sengupta of Third World Network (TWN), India said, the mandate of the 
Agreement on Agriculture under WTO was to ensure sustainability of 
agriculture as advised by the SDG. 

"But, unfortunately, it has failed to do so. They could have accepted the 
Public Stockholding as a solution but ignored it," she added.