May 27, 2008 (LPAC)--In a May 25 speech, Mexican President Felipe Calderon announced measures to guarantee "food security" which will achieve exactly the opposite: the final destruction of Mexico's agriculture, finishing the job that NAFTA began in 1993-1994. It is with good reason that the National Peasant Confederation (CNC), and just about every other agricultural producer organization, has denounced Calderon's announcement as arrogant and hypocritical.
The measures are insane. Calderon announced that he intended to remove tariffs on imports of wheat, rice, and white and yellow corn, sorghum, powdered milk, and beans. Tariffs on all imports of fertilizer and chemical inputs for fertilizer will also be eliminated. The rationale behind these actions, according to Calderon, is to give Mexican consumers access to "the best prices of food in the international market!" What prices is he talking about? The ones that have increased by 30%, 40% 50% or more in the past year?
Calderon made some references to helping small farmers, providing subsidies for purchase of fertilizer and some construction of infrastructure. But there is nothing in what he announced which would allow for the agricultural and infrastructural development program which Lyndon LaRouche has proposed, through construction of the Northwest Hydraulic Plan (PHLINO).
Moreover, as numerous critics pointed out, nowhere in his plan is there any mention of the role that Mexico's petrochemical industry could play in producing fertilizer and other agro-chemicals. Cruz Lopez Aguilar, a leader of the CNC, characterized Calderon's plan as "reprehensible." He intends to solve Mexico's problems of scarcity and hunger by flooding the country with imports, when it's obvious that what's needed is a total change in agricultural policy, Lopez said.
Another agro leader pointed out that importing large quantities of grains at the beginning of the spring-summer season, during which 70% of Mexico's agricultural production is generated, will force the producer "into bankruptcy."
