At Ministerial Conference, WTO faces litmus test on food security issue

Despite making all the correct noises, the WTO members have failed to walk the talk as evident in divergent positions on food security

Global food insecurity has reached troubling dimensions, with the number of severely food-insecure people having doubled to 276 million during the past two years. Despite making all the correct noises, the World Trade Organization (WTO) members have failed to walk the talk as evident in divergent positions on food security.
 
In the upcoming 12th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC-12), more than 80 developing countries including least developed country (LDC) members have been demanding a permanent solution to the issue of public stockholding (PSH) programmes for food security purposes. However, their demand is almost rejected by a few countries with strong