In clear disregard for the ongoing multilateral negotiations, the United States is attempting to protect its already heavily fortified agriculture further. The House of Representatives passed the US Farm Bill 2007 in July, proposing 286 billion dollars of support for American farmers over the next five years. Devinder Sharma on the implications.

As a child I had always wondered as to why a pigeon shut its eyes when it sees a cat. After all, how naïve or stupid depending on how you perceive the act, can the pigeons be to think that a visible threat to its life, which is as sure as death, can be simply warded-off by keeping eyes wide shut.

I gave up as I grew up. But now I realise that the educated elite, especially if they happen to be macro-economists or trade negotiators are a step ahead of pigeons. While pigeons meet a gory end, trade negotiators and economists are clever enough to escape by ensuring that the axe falls on the poor and marginalized.

No wonder, as the trade negotiators from 150 member countries of World Trade Organisation (WTO) assemble at Geneva to resume negotiations, I am told the 'mood' seems to be upbeat and 'just right'. There are enough indications that developing country negotiators will brush aside all threats to agriculture and industrial sector and instead join the rich and industrialised countries to sing paeans of virtues in favour of what is known to be an unequal and unjust multilateral trade regime.

It sure is an unequal world. In clear disregard for the ongoing multilateral negotiations, the United States has thrown yet another protective ring around its heavily fortified agriculture. Knowing that the developing country negotiators are weak-kneed and lack the courage to even raise their voice, the House of Representatives has passed the US Farm Bill 2007 on 27 July. This prompted the House Agriculture Chair Colin Peterson (Democrat) to say: "I want to write a Farm Bill that's good for (American) agriculture. If somebody wants to sue us (at the WTO), we've got a lot of lawyers in Washington."

Although the notorious Bill awaits clearance from the US Senate, it proposes that American farmers receive a federal support of US $ 286 billion over the next five years. Irrespective of the volatility of the global markets, and the advantages of 'free market' economy that the macro-economists in the developing world never feel tired of reiterating, the US farmers have preferred to rely on government support. While the US is forcing the developing world to turn its agriculture 'competitive' by removing all safety nets for farmers, it does exactly the opposite at home.