[Texgreen] Trade-Mexico: Staple Foods at Risk from Free Trade Market

Tue, 6 Mar 2007 08:31:26 -0800 (PST)

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     This article last week on TomPaine.com goes with this thread...

  http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/03/01/human_junk_mail.php

  -Tom

"Herbert Gonzales. Jr." <hgonzales410@hotmail.com> wrote:
        I would grant that Mexico is in severe agricultural state but this is primarily affected by the change in the world's consumption of corn, wheat and increasingly soybeans.  The opening of Mexican markets would be best served with a increase in the production of  soybeans and a reduction in the usage of corn as a staple to the production of corn for ethanol production and the reduction of oil production to meet Kyoto guidelines.  The Calderon government should be encouraged to develop Mexico's economy along the green revolution to promote energy sustainibility.

  Herb

---------------------------------

From:  margaret <max104@io.com>
To:  Texgreen <texgreen@gp-us.org>
Subject:  [Texgreen] Trade-Mexico: Staple Foods at Risk from Free Trade Market
Date:  Tue, 27 Feb 2007 20:02:01 -0600
>http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36728
>
>Trade-Mexico: Staple Foods at Risk from Free Market
>Diego Cevallos
>InterPressService
>
>MEXICO CITY, Feb 26 - When the Mexican government negotiated the 
>North
>American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), in force since 1994, it 
>estimated
>that 14 years of safeguards for its maize and beans would be enough 
>time for
>local production of these crops to become competitive. But things 
>did not
>work out that way.
>
>In only 11 months' time the market for these products, the 
>traditional
>staple foods of Mexican consumers, will be wide open to receive 
>maize and
>beans from the other two NAFTA partners, Canada and the United 
>States.
>
>The tension is growing. The resources that were to improve 
>agricultural
>competitiveness have been frittered away, and the plans never 
>worked.
>
>The Felipe Calderon administration announced on Friday that to 
>prepare for
>the free market, it will grant farmers this year support in the 
>amount of
>640 million dollars.
>
>The government promised that these funds, to be spent on advice to 
>boost
>competitiveness and on seeds and other back-up, will be additional 
>to public
>investment in rural areas, on healthcare and roads, for example, 
>totalling
>an unprecedented 16 billion dollars this year.
>
>Furthermore, new inter-ministerial work and supervision strategies 
>will be
>adopted to face the challenge of free trade in maize and beans, 
>grown by
>3.7 million small farmers, the majority of whom are poor.
>
>Calderon said he would propose to the governments of the United 
>States and
>Canada that a working group be created to find ways of mitigating 
>the impact
>of this extension of free trade in Mexico.
>
>His goal is to secure the backing of these countries to improve 
>production
>and marketing of the Mexican crops, he said.
>
>But Calderon's announcements have not satisfied small farmers'
>organisations, opposition politicians and activists, who regard 
>NAFTA as the
>main cause of the problems in the rural areas, home to 30 million 
>out of the
>country's 104 million people.
>
>Removing the tariff barriers will sound the death knell for rural 
>workers,
>said the National Peasant Federation (CNC), linked to the opposition
>Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) which promoted, negotiated 
>and
>signed NAFTA in 1992, while it was still in power.
>
>U.S. competition in the product categories to be liberated will be 
>very
>tough on Mexico. The maize yield in this country is about 2.3 tons 
>per
>hectare, compared with 7.2 tons per hectare in the United States, 
>while U.S.
>farmers produce 2.9 times more beans per hectare than Mexican 
>farmers.
>
>The United States subsidises its farmers at a level of over 19 
>billion
>dollars a year, more than all of Mexico's rural sector funding 
>sources put
>together.
>
>And Mexico is not self-sufficient in these food crops. In 2006 it 
>had to
>import 5.2 million tons of maize and 122,000 tons of beans, nearly 
>all from
>the United States, to cope with domestic demand.
>
>Because NAFTA clauses allow these food imports by Mexico, some 
>observers
>argue that the market has in fact already been thrown open.
>
>Small farmers' organisations want the Calderon administration to 
>renegotiate
>the treaty. However, the president is not considering this option.
>
>Renegotiating the treaty is not the most promising approach, unless 
>Mexico
>wishes to offer concessions to its NAFTA partners in relation to 
>products
>like tomatoes, avocadoes and green vegetables, where this country 
>already
>has considerable advantages, regional integration expert and 
>professor at
>several universities German de la Reza told IPS.
>
>NAFTA was negotiated en bloc, with joint and reciprocal commitments 
>and
>concessions in different product categories. "If a single element 
>were to be
>renegotiated now, the whole treaty would be at risk of falling 
>apart, and
>none of the partners wants that to happen," de la Reza said.
>
>Former President Vicente Fox (2000-2006) broached the subject of
>renegotiating the agricultural chapter of the treaty with the United 
>States,
>but the suggestion was rejected out of hand.
>
>De la Reza hopes that the financial support for farmers announced on 
>Friday
>will be put to its proper use and not, as in the past, be 
>distributed in
>return for political backing.
>
>Mexico should be able to honour its commitment to remove tariff 
>barriers for
>maize and beans in 2008, so long as enough support is given to 
>farmers, de
>la Reza said.
>
>The main opposition force, the leftwing Party of the Democratic 
>Revolution
>(PRD), together with small farmers organisations and activists, are 
>adamant
>that opening maize and beans production to competition is suicide. 
>They
>blame NAFTA, which has been in force for 13 years, for the country's
>agricultural problems.
>
>In contrast, Braulio Serna, head of the agricultural development 
>unit of the
>Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)'s 
>local
>office, said that NAFTA does not affect Mexico's rural sector to a
>significant extent.
>
>In 2005, Serna presented an exhaustive study on Mexican agriculture 
>in which
>he claimed that only a biased view could point to free trade as a
>determining factor in the country's agricultural performance.
>
>Rural problems, poverty and mass migration are rather the effects of 
>poor
>public policies, global and national economic crises, climate 
>factors, low
>levels of education and training, and depressed international prices 
>of a
>number of agricultural goods, Serna said.
>
>De la Reza also blames bad policies, going back to before NAFTA came 
>into
>effect. Governments have had 14 years to prepare for this challenge, 
>and
>they have done nothing.
>
>With the barriers about to come down, small farmers are predicting 
>yet
>another crisis. (END/2007)
>
>http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36728
>
>_______________________________________________
>texgreen mailing list
>texgreen@lists.gp-us.org
>http://lists.gp-us.org/mailman/listinfo/texgreen

---------------------------------
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<div>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; This article last week on TomPaine.com goes with this thread...</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><A href="http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/03/01/human_junk_mail.php">http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/03/01/human_junk_mail.php</A></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>-Tom "Herbert Gonzales. Jr." &lt;hgonzales410@hotmail.com&gt; wrote:</div> <BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid"> <DIV> <DIV class=RTE> <div>I would grant that Mexico is in severe agricultural state but this is primarily affected by the change in the world's consumption of corn, wheat and increasingly soybeans.&nbsp; The opening of Mexican markets would be best served with a increase in the production of&nbsp; soybeans and a reduction in the usage of corn as a staple to the production of corn for ethanol production and the reduction of oil production to meet Kyoto guidelines.&nbsp; The Calderon
 government should be encouraged to develop Mexico's economy along the green revolution to promote energy sustainibility.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Herb </div></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #a0c6e5 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <HR color=#a0c6e5 SIZE=1> <DIV></DIV>From:&nbsp;&nbsp;margaret &lt;max104@io.com&gt; To:&nbsp;&nbsp;Texgreen &lt;texgreen@gp-us.org&gt; Subject:&nbsp;&nbsp;[Texgreen] Trade-Mexico: Staple Foods at Risk from Free Trade Market Date:&nbsp;&nbsp;Tue, 27 Feb 2007 20:02:01 -0600 &gt;http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36728 &gt; &gt;Trade-Mexico: Staple Foods at Risk from Free Market &gt;Diego Cevallos &gt;InterPressService &gt; &gt;MEXICO CITY, Feb 26 - When the Mexican government negotiated the &gt;North &gt;American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), in
 force since 1994, it &gt;estimated &gt;that 14 years of safeguards for its maize and beans would be enough &gt;time for &gt;local production of these crops to become competitive. But things &gt;did not &gt;work out that way. &gt; &gt;In only 11 months' time the market for these products, the &gt;traditional &gt;staple foods of Mexican consumers, will be wide open to receive &gt;maize and &gt;beans from the other two NAFTA partners, Canada and the United &gt;States. &gt; &gt;The tension is growing. The resources that were to improve &gt;agricultural &gt;competitiveness have been frittered away, and the plans never &gt;worked. &gt; &gt;The Felipe Calderon administration announced on Friday that to &gt;prepare for &gt;the free market, it will grant farmers this year support in the &gt;amount of &gt;640 million dollars. &gt; &gt;The government promised that these funds, to be spent on
 advice to &gt;boost &gt;competitiveness and on seeds and other back-up, will be additional &gt;to public &gt;investment in rural areas, on healthcare and roads, for example, &gt;totalling &gt;an unprecedented 16 billion dollars this year. &gt; &gt;Furthermore, new inter-ministerial work and supervision strategies &gt;will be &gt;adopted to face the challenge of free trade in maize and beans, &gt;grown by &gt;3.7 million small farmers, the majority of whom are poor. &gt; &gt;Calderon said he would propose to the governments of the United &gt;States and &gt;Canada that a working group be created to find ways of mitigating &gt;the impact &gt;of this extension of free trade in Mexico. &gt; &gt;His goal is to secure the backing of these countries to improve &gt;production &gt;and marketing of the Mexican crops, he said. &gt; &gt;But Calderon's announcements have not satisfied small
 farmers' &gt;organisations, opposition politicians and activists, who regard &gt;NAFTA as the &gt;main cause of the problems in the rural areas, home to 30 million &gt;out of the &gt;country's 104 million people. &gt; &gt;Removing the tariff barriers will sound the death knell for rural &gt;workers, &gt;said the National Peasant Federation (CNC), linked to the opposition &gt;Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) which promoted, negotiated &gt;and &gt;signed NAFTA in 1992, while it was still in power. &gt; &gt;U.S. competition in the product categories to be liberated will be &gt;very &gt;tough on Mexico. The maize yield in this country is about 2.3 tons &gt;per &gt;hectare, compared with 7.2 tons per hectare in the United States, &gt;while U.S. &gt;farmers produce 2.9 times more beans per hectare than Mexican &gt;farmers. &gt; &gt;The United States subsidises its farmers at a level of over 19
 &gt;billion &gt;dollars a year, more than all of Mexico's rural sector funding &gt;sources put &gt;together. &gt; &gt;And Mexico is not self-sufficient in these food crops. In 2006 it &gt;had to &gt;import 5.2 million tons of maize and 122,000 tons of beans, nearly &gt;all from &gt;the United States, to cope with domestic demand. &gt; &gt;Because NAFTA clauses allow these food imports by Mexico, some &gt;observers &gt;argue that the market has in fact already been thrown open. &gt; &gt;Small farmers' organisations want the Calderon administration to &gt;renegotiate &gt;the treaty. However, the president is not considering this option. &gt; &gt;Renegotiating the treaty is not the most promising approach, unless &gt;Mexico &gt;wishes to offer concessions to its NAFTA partners in relation to &gt;products &gt;like tomatoes, avocadoes and green vegetables, where this country
 &gt;already &gt;has considerable advantages, regional integration expert and &gt;professor at &gt;several universities German de la Reza told IPS. &gt; &gt;NAFTA was negotiated en bloc, with joint and reciprocal commitments &gt;and &gt;concessions in different product categories. "If a single element &gt;were to be &gt;renegotiated now, the whole treaty would be at risk of falling &gt;apart, and &gt;none of the partners wants that to happen," de la Reza said. &gt; &gt;Former President Vicente Fox (2000-2006) broached the subject of &gt;renegotiating the agricultural chapter of the treaty with the United &gt;States, &gt;but the suggestion was rejected out of hand. &gt; &gt;De la Reza hopes that the financial support for farmers announced on &gt;Friday &gt;will be put to its proper use and not, as in the past, be &gt;distributed in &gt;return for political backing. &gt; &gt;Mexico should be
 able to honour its commitment to remove tariff &gt;barriers for &gt;maize and beans in 2008, so long as enough support is given to &gt;farmers, de &gt;la Reza said. &gt; &gt;The main opposition force, the leftwing Party of the Democratic &gt;Revolution &gt;(PRD), together with small farmers organisations and activists, are &gt;adamant &gt;that opening maize and beans production to competition is suicide. &gt;They &gt;blame NAFTA, which has been in force for 13 years, for the country's &gt;agricultural problems. &gt; &gt;In contrast, Braulio Serna, head of the agricultural development &gt;unit of the &gt;Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)'s &gt;local &gt;office, said that NAFTA does not affect Mexico's rural sector to a &gt;significant extent. &gt; &gt;In 2005, Serna presented an exhaustive study on Mexican agriculture &gt;in which &gt;he claimed that only a biased
 view could point to free trade as a &gt;determining factor in the country's agricultural performance. &gt; &gt;Rural problems, poverty and mass migration are rather the effects of &gt;poor &gt;public policies, global and national economic crises, climate &gt;factors, low &gt;levels of education and training, and depressed international prices &gt;of a &gt;number of agricultural goods, Serna said. &gt; &gt;De la Reza also blames bad policies, going back to before NAFTA came &gt;into &gt;effect. Governments have had 14 years to prepare for this challenge, &gt;and &gt;they have done nothing. &gt; &gt;With the barriers about to come down, small farmers are predicting &gt;yet &gt;another crisis. (END/2007) &gt; &gt;http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36728 &gt; &gt;_______________________________________________ &gt;texgreen mailing
 list &gt;texgreen@lists.gp-us.org &gt;http://lists.gp-us.org/mailman/listinfo/texgreen </BLOCKQUOTE></DIV> <HR> <A href="http://g.msn.com/8HMBENUS/2743??PS=47575" target=_top>Win a Zune™—make MSN® your homepage for your chance to win!</A> _______________________________________________ texgreen mailing list texgreen@lists.gp-us.org http://lists.gp-us.org/mailman/listinfo/texgreen </BLOCKQUOTE> &#32;

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