December 7, 2007

Mexican corn farmers call for countryside protection over NAFTA

Mexican corn farmers are urging the federal government to undertake specific actions to protect the its industry from the measures agreed in the framework of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and a new world order in the grain market, said Efrain Garcia Bello, president of the National Confederation of Mexican Corn Producers (CNPAMM).

In the context of the presentation of the document entitled "Corn, Treasure of Mexico," he expressed the need for the authorities to "guarantee the fulfilment of five indispensable conditions and to carry out the urgent actions and strategies that were proposed at the beginning of 2007".

The agreement should comply with the National Agreement for the Countryside, to mechanism to obey in the affixed quotas with a fixed tariff for white corn; approval in the Senate of the Republic of the Planning Law for Security and Food and Nutritional Sovereignty; and establishment of a national corn programme that includes support instruments for the development of specialty corn markets and aid for marketing.

Also, the confederation also calls for creation of a Special Corn Commission that will promote and plan research and technology transfer to organise the corn supply and harvest as well as the processing and marketing of the grain. The commission will also promote an agreement in the World Trade Organization (WTO) that will establish that developing countries must have protection of strategic, special crops for their food security.

In view of the elimination of tariffs and import quotas beginning on 1 January 2008, the over 3 million producers of Mexican corn will be unable to face the competition of US farmers, who enjoy high subsidies that result in prices below production costs, which constitutes unfair competition.

Garcia Bello thought that the commitment with regard to corn production should be clear in state policies and in the budget amounts allocated to the sector. For that, he proposed that the budget for the agricultural activity be increased by 100 per cent, but with multi-annual allocations.

For his part, CNPAMM Secretary Carlos Salazar said that the need to design public policies that allow the strengthening of food security and sovereignty is obvious, and the importance of investing in national corn production must be recognized, given the new context of the global economy.

The big asymmetries show that while the arable land in Mexico is 27.3 million hectares, it is 179 million hectares in the United States. The irrigated production area is 4.6 million hectares, compared to 17.9 million hectares in the United States.

The contrast is much more obvious with regard to the annual subsidy per hectare, since it is US$4.50 in Mexico, while in the United States is US$125 or 28 times greater. As for aid to producers, Mexico only totals just US$700 as against US$21,000 in the United States, says Salazar.