Food Chemical News | By Steven Lewis | July 7, 2003
Grower associations are increasingly expressing their dissatisfaction with the government's slow pace in implementing the National Agreement on Agriculture and disseminating the promised aid to farmers.
After months of tense negotiations, President Vicente Fox signed the agreement in May, promising increased protection for Mexico's most vulnerable farmers. However, intense pressure by key U.S. officials later that month forced Mexico to back down from restrictions on imported beans and pork (see FCN June 2, Page 14). Discontent among grower associations is on the rise, and that makes it imperative for Fox to show that he is following through on his promises under the agreement.
Grower associations assembled under the banner of the Permanent Agricultural Congress are demanding that the Fox regime show that it has substantially complied with the agreement by Aug. 8. Association leaders claim that the Mexican government has backed away from its promise to protect national bean and corn producers from U.S. imports, revise NAFTA agricultural provisions and provide more aid to producers.
Even before the agreement was signed, it was clear that the demand by growers for NAFTA renegotiation was a non-starter. Canada and the United States indicated they had no intention of entering into such negotiations with Mexico. Late last month Mexico's economics minister, Fernando Canales, confirmed that he does not intend to press for NAFTA renegotiation.
Although renegotiating NAFTA may be out of the question, opposition political factions appear determined to use the issue to stir up discontent among Mexico's more than 10 million farmers. Last month, Enrique Jackson, president of the Mexican Senate, stated that the legislative body will intensify its push for NAFTA renegotiation. Because it is highly unlikely that Fox's right-of-center PAN party will win a legislative majority in this month's federal elections, it will be difficult for the president to fend off anti-NAFTA legislative initiatives.
Bureaucratic inefficiencies have made it impossible for the Fox regime to follow through in a timely manner with increased aid promised under agricultural agreement. Many producers have been forced to delay planting because about $1.2 billion in funding allocated through the Procampo program has been delayed by inter-ministerial feuding. The Fox regime may opt for consolidating the program under one ministry, rather than the current 12, but that could lead to another prolonged political battle.
Tensions in the agricultural sector are likely to heighten before they subside because growers are demanding immediate action on reforms that will take a matter of years to accomplish. One of the greatest challenges faced by the Fox regime in upcoming months will be to fend off politically motivated civil unrest that could interrupt food trade with the United States. Alfonso Ramirez of the organization called Agriculture Can Take No More, recently issued a statement saying, "If the situation gets critical, several agricultural organizations are planning protests and marches, and would even take over international bridges." In the past, Mexican agricultural producers have used bridge blockades to obstruct food imports from the United States.Food Chemical News:
