May 30, 2006

Mexico urges reconsideration of NAFTA corn markets

Mexican Agriculture Minister Francisco Mayorga Monday (May 30) said Mexico will ask the governments of Canada and the US to "reconsider" certain aspects of the liberalisation of white corn and bean markets.

Mayorga said the Agriculture Ministry and Economy Ministry would send their ministers to consult with their US and Canadian counterparts, as these sectors remain "highly sensitive" to the Mexican farming sector.

Mexico's white corn and bean producers, mostly small impoverished subsistence farmers living in isolated rural areas, have for the past few years lobbied the government to get an extended deadline before a fully liberalised North American Free Trade Agreement takes effect in 2008.

Last year, Mexican Economy Minister Fernando Canales said the government wanted to postpone lifting tariffs on white corn and bean imports from the US and Canada to give poor farmers more time to prepare for a free market.

Mexico remains concerned that hefty agricultural subsidies in the US will give that country's white corn and beans an unfair advantage in the Mexican market, where production efficiencies vary widely.

In the northern state of Sinaloa, producers turn out 12 tonnes of corn a hectare, whereas in states like Oaxaca and Guerrero, farmers produce only one or two tonnes of corn a hectare.

Although the government has been encouraging less competitive corn and bean farmers to switch to more lucrative crops, the process is slow and farm groups fear that US farm subsidies would force them out of business.

Corn and beans are among the handful of agricultural products from NAFTA countries that are still subjected to import duties in Mexico.