Issues in Trade Performance of Livestock in India: Reflection of SPS Measures and International Relations | Original Article

ABSTRACT:

India is an important member of the world trading community. It is the largest producer of some foods products in the world.In the current context of liberalization and increasing global integration of economies, it would be unfair to compare livestock sector of India with that obtaining in most of the vastly modern and technologically far advanced western block countries in terms of a produce that is globally competitive. However, despite several weaknesses in terms of adoption of improved technique, the share of livestock in gross output of agriculture and allied activities has been showing a growing trend due mainly to dependence of millions of Indian farmers on this secondary remunerative source of agricultural income. Thereby, the paper focuses on the challenges to India’s live stock exchanges which is centred on the SPS measures of developed countries and are in most cases stringent or higher than international standards. In light of this context, the article makes an effort to evaluate not only the importance of the livestock industry to the domestic economy but also the potential effects of economic reform under the WTO framework on the local market. It is believed that the free-trade framework established by the WTO presents many possibilities as well as risks for India's livestock sector. The study draws attention to a number of concerns that must be addressed in order to maintain India's livestock industry in the WTO age, when wealthy nations' livestock are lavished with care at the expense of hundreds of thousands of farmers in poor nations. The author also compares the India’s position with its international counterparts in terms of live stock exchange standards and thereby based on it tries to put forward some suggestions.