Training Needs of Farmers about World Trade Organization Issues

Abstract

In the present study, efforts were made to assess the awareness level and its correlate with the selected variables among the farmers on World Trade Organization (WTO) issues with special reference to agriculture and also to ascertain the training needs. The study was carried out in the state of Maharashtra and multistage random sampling technique was used for the selection of the respondent farmers. The results revealed that the overall awareness level of farmers on WTO issues related to agriculture was very low. Farmers’ education, mass media exposure, social participation and extension contact were found to have positive and significant correlation with their awareness about WTO. Farmers were found to be unaware not only about the structure and functions of WTO, its origin and purpose etc. but also about the provisions under the Agreement on Agriculture and other Intellectual Property Related issues such as the system of plant variety protection in India in general and the Protection of Plant Variety and Farmers Rights Act, 2001 in particular. The present investigation concluded that farmers must be given training on every basic aspects of WTO.