A paper presented to WTO for the upcoming review on agriculture attempted to make a distinction between this and subsidies being extended by developed nations to produce surplus, FAO senior liaison officer Panos Konandreas said. India had sought flexibility to support its domestic agriculture sector, which was the largest sector to offering employment.

"India has told WTO in the paper that subsidies for developing countries must continue to help them achieve self-sufficiency, while developed countries were subsidising for surplus production for exports," Konandreas said. "The argument in the paper is very thin. It needs to be elaborated further," he said, adding FAO was helping developing countries to formulate their strategy.