The Wire

2.5 billion people depend on agriculture to earn a living, however unfair trade rules are undermining the livelihoods of the world’s poorest farmers, according to a visiting expert in Sydney this week. Devinda Sharma is an agricultural scientist and former editor of India’s biggest English newspaper, the Indian Express. He’s in Australia to raise awareness of the crises in agriculture, which he claims has come about by developing countries being forced to open their agricultural markets while Western countries hang on to subsidies. With one out of every four farmers in the world being Indian, he says the effects of subsidised commodities from Western countries flooding the market have been felt especially felt in the Southern parts of the country, where many small farmers are leaving farms to seek work in the cities. While out here to draw attention to the crises in agriculture, he is also arguing for reform of the World Trade Organisation’s rules. He spoke to Bill Birtles.