A. Uruguay Round, 1995

a) It led to the formation of WTO. One of the main objectives of Uruguay round was to reduce agricultural subsidies. The Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) was signed by the WTO members.

b) The agreed long-term objective of the reform process initiated by the Uruguay Round reform programme is to establish a fair and market-oriented agricultural trading system.

c) The reform programme comprises specific commitments to reduce support and protection in the areas of domestic support, export subsidies and market access.

d) The Agreement also takes into account non-trade concerns, including food security and the need to protect the environment, and provides special and differential treatment for developing countries, including an improvement in the opportunities and terms of access for agricultural products of particular export interest to these members.

e) The implementation period for the country-specific commitments is the six-year period commencing in 1995. However, developing countries have the flexibility to implement their reduction and other specific commitments over a period of up to 10 years.

f) Special Agricultural Safeguard (SSG) was provided to developing economies under which they can impose an additional duty in case of import surge (volume) or fall of import price below a specified reference price.

g) Uruguay Round created two categories of domestic support

1. Support with no, or minimal, distortive effect on trade on the one hand (often referred to as “Green Box” measures). For example, government funded agricultural research or training.

2. Trade-distorting support on the other hand (often referred to as “Amber Box” measures). For example, government buying-in at a guaranteed price (“market price support”) falls into the Amber Box.

♤ Green Box: These measures are exempt from reduction commitments and, indeed, can even be increased without any financial limitation under the WTO. The Green Box applies to both developed and developing country members but in the case of developing countries special treatment is provided in respect of governmental stockholding programmes for food security purposes and subsidized food prices for urban and rural poor. But, they must not involve transfers from consumers and must not have the effect of providing price support to producers (India's PDS does not come under Green Box). Following programs come under Green Box:

o Government service programs such as Research Programs, Pest and Disease Control, training, infrastructure etc.

o Direct Payment to producers but it must not influence type or volume of production, also called Decoupled Payments.

♤ Blue Box: These are basically Amber Box subsidies but they tend to limit the production. . Any support that would normally be in the amber box, is placed in the blue box if the support also requires farmers to limit their production. These measures are also exempt from reduction commitments. It includes direct payments under production limiting programs, made on fixed areas and yield or a fixed number of livestock. Such payments also fit into this category if they are made on 85 per cent or less of production in a defined base period. While the Green Box covers decoupled payments, in the case of the Blue Box measures, production is still required in order to receive the payments, but the actual payments do not relate directly to the current quantity of that production.

De Minimis: Minimal amounts of domestic support that are allowed even though they distort trade. Under the de minimis provisions of the agreement there is no requirement to reduce trade-distorting domestic support in any year in which the aggregate value of the product-specific support does not exceed 5 per cent of the total value of production of the agricultural product in question. In addition, non-product specific support which is less than 5 per cent of the value of total agricultural production is also exempt from reduction. The 5 per cent threshold applies to developed countries whereas in the case of developing countries the de minimis ceiling is 10 per cent. However, the quantum of subsidy is computed after taking into consideration prices that prevailed two decades ago. India is well below and within the de minimis level (10 per cent ) for all its major crops.

Peace Clause : holds that domestic support measures and export subsidies of a WTO Member that are legal under the provisions of Article 13 of the Agreement on Agriculture cannot be challenged by other WTO Members on grounds of being illegal under the provisions of another WTO agreement. The Peace Clause has expired on January 1, 2004. Another temporary peace clause was made at the WTO Bali conference in December 201 for four years until 2017. It stipulated that no country would be legally barred from food security programs for its own people even if the subsidy breached the limits specified in the WTO Agreement on Agriculture.

B. Doha Round

Doha round or Doha Development Agenda is the trade negotiation round of WTO which started in 2001. For agricultural negotiations, Bali Ministerial Conference (2013) and Nairobi Ministerial Conference (2015) has been important.