State agriculture is being affected by globalisation: Sikdar

State agriculture is being affected by globalisation: Sikdar

March 04, 2006 Dainik Jatir Katha

Globalisation has affected the agricultural sector of all developing countries. If we do not try to redistribute the opportunities emerging from globalisation at the grassroots, the goal of poverty reduction can never be achieved. These words of caution was put forward by Prof Soumen Sikdar of Calcutta University in a panel discussion organised by CUTS International on March 1, 2006 at Rotary Sadan, Kolkata. He cited the example of Vietnam that was once a net importer of rice but now it is placed among the top three rice-exporting countries of the world. This happened only because Vietnam has been able to utilise globalisation for its economic development. Other speakers included Milind Murgkar from Loksatta, Santanu Sanyal from The Hindu Business Line and Kanai Mitra from Sabuj Sona.

Mita Duta and Dalia Dey from CUTS Calcutta Resource Centre (CUTS-CRC) informed that reporters from various districts of West Bengal including Kolkata attended the workshop.