-The Telegraph

Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav underscores importance of subsidies and pesticides in agriculture in developing countries

New Delhi: India has opposed global targets to reduce subsidies and pesticides in agriculture for the sake of biodiversity, asserting that farming provides livelihood to millions in developing countries and that countries should be allowed to determine their national goals.

The Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav, delivering India’s national statement at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity on Friday in Montreal, underscored the importance of subsidies and pesticides in agriculture in developing countries.

The statement also iterated India’s expectations of more funds from rich countries to help the country protect its biodiversity.

“Our agriculture… is the source of life, livelihoods and culture for hundreds of millions. Such essential support to vulnerable sections cannot be called subsidies and targeted for elimination, while they may be rationalised,” Yadav told the convention.

“Similarly, a numerical global target for pesticide reduction is unnecessary and must be left to countries to decide,” he told the convention where the first draft of a global biodiversity framework is up for consideration.

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