According to Colombian paper El Espectador, Colombia’s exports to the U.S. actually fell 4.5% between May 2012 and March 2013, while Colombia’s imports from the U.S. rose 19.7%. In the agroindustrial sector on which many Colombians depend for their livelihood, U.S. imports from Colombia rose 11.5%, but Colombian imports from the U.S. skyrocketed 70%. An economic study conducted prior to the FTA’s passage predicted that just such a scenario would lead to income losses of up to 70% for the vast majority of Colombia’s farmers, contributing to their displacement. It is not only that strikers feel they cannot compete with heavily-subsidized U.S. production: they are actually prohibited from doing so. The FTA prohibits the Colombian government from subsidizing agriculture for export or domestic consumption, even as the U.S. government subsidizes U.S. agribusinesses to the tune of $15 billion each year. Along with the FTA came Colombian laws that cleared the way for the deal’s implementation and that similarly plagued campesinos. These include: Prohibition of the production, marketing and consumption of panela, a semi-refined sugar that is a Colombian staple (Resolutions 002546 of 2004 and 0779 of 2006) Prohibition of the sale of raw milk (Decree 2838 of 2006) Limits on the ability of small-scale farmers to raise and slaughter cattle (Decree 1500 of 2007) Prohibition of the production and marketing of heritage-breed chickens (Resolution 000957 of 2008) Controls on the production, use and marketing of all seeds in the country (Resolution 970 of 2010) Expansion of intellectual property rights to include seeds (Law 1518 of 2012). All of these laws favor large-scale industrial production over small-scale producers that do not have the resources to comply with such regulations. Campesinos are incredulous: “When we produce things like milk or chickens for our communities, of course we ensure that those products are safe because our families are the ones consuming them. It is an economy based on trust.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Oct 2013 19:41:56 +0000
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