India, Feb. 28 -- India backs permanent solution for public stockholding of food grains even as developing nations attack it

Agriculture and fisheries took centre stage on the second day of the World Trade Organization's (WTO) 13th ministerial conference in Abu Dhabi, as member countries held closed talks without any major breakthrough.

Sources close to the negotiations told Down To Earth that some of the countries, in their opening statements on February 27, targeted India and its public stockholding (PSH) of food and subsidies to farmers and compared it with the increase in its rice exports.

There was a view among some countries that if India has increased its rice exports in recent times, then how can it claim to need subsidies and ...