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Issue Number 22, January 2003
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Kapatiran Issue
No. 22, January 2003
NZ, Globalisation
And Philippines Farmers
- Tim Howard
Under "globalisation", otherwise known as
corporate imperialism, 14 importers led by Rustan's
Supermarket brought 266 tons of vegetables into the
Philippines in the first nine months of 2002, causing
huge losses to farmers in the Cordillera and other areas,
who produce the same crops.
As the article below shows, NZ vegetable imports are one
of the factors hurting local producers. Steep drops in
the prices of locally produced palay (unhusked rice) are
also being blamed on the Macapagal-Arroyo's
administration's policies (like NZ's) of trade
liberalisation and importation. The late Rod Flores,
Chair of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid ng Gitnang Luzon (AMGL
- the Alliance of Peasants in Central Luzon), was quoted
by the Philippine Daily Inquirer on October 1, 2002, as
saying "President Macapagal-Arroyo is the biggest
'rice smuggler' in the country. She has legalised rice
smuggling in the name of rice importation and
liberalisation. The flooding of imported rice in our
local market is the main reason prices of palay have
dropped".
New Zealand's neoliberal Labour-led Government and its
Agriculture Minister, Jim Sutton, are strong advocates
internationally for the total removal of protections
against imports of agricultural products. The NZ
government, and all those in solidarity with Philippine
peasants, need to take into account the impact that
exporting NZ products already has on farmers and families
in countries like the Philippines.
Benguet Farmers To Protest Vegetable Importation
By Vincent Cabreza and Desiree Caluza, Philippine
Daily Inquirer, 6/10/02
Baguio City -- Former Senator Wigberto Taņada, an
anti-globalisation advocate, will join this month about
12,000 Benguet farmers in a series of rallies that will
protest the displacement of Benguet vegetables by legally
imported Australian produce, Benguet Governor Raul
Molintas said.
Molintas said Benguet Board Member Johnny Uy, a former
Atok mayor and himself a vegetable farmer, had talked to
Taņada in Manila this week to relay the farmers' concern
that the Department of Agriculture had concealed the real
impact of imported vegetables on their industry.
Molintas said the Government had yet to respond to a
formal appeal made by seven Cordillera congressmen, six
governors and a city mayor on September 22 for a review
of a government policy, which allowed Australian imports,
despite Australia's trade barrier conflicts with Filipino
farmers.
"We are asking President Macapagal-Arroyo why
vegetable importation should be allowed in the first
place, given the abundance of vegetables coming from the
Cordillera," said Molintas.
He added: "(Agriculture Secretary Leonardo)
Montemayor was here in August but he only disclosed to us
the identities of three importers, among them Rustan's
Supermarket and Tuckerbag Inc.".
Molintas said the firms' import clearances in July only
covered 3,348 kilograms of Australian carrots and 5,758
kg of assorted vegetables like lettuce and broccoli.
Montemayor earlier met with Benguet farmers after his
inspection in La Trinidad, Benguet, confirmed the influx
of smuggled Chinese vegetables that were apparently
re-routed from a Japan shipment.
"Apparently, farmers here were given the wrong
information, and therefore had braced themselves with
wrong safety nets against the imported Australian
vegetables. We thought we were fighting mere hotel
suppliers. We did not know we are competing with
supermarkets and groceries already," Molintas said.
Patricio Ananayo, chief of the Department of
Agriculture's agribusiness and marketing division here,
said the locally produced vegetables already meet the
demands of hotels and restaurants.
He said Benguet farmers have been importing American,
Japanese and European hybrid seeds since the 1960s, which
produce top-quality cauliflower, broccoli, carrots,
potatoes and cabbages.
Lulu Gimenez, information officer of Apit-Tako (Alliance
of Peasants in the Cordillera Homeland), said Australian
imports are better packaged, which explains their
attractiveness to supermarket chains. But local
vegetables actually taste better and contain better
nutrients, she said.
Benguet farmers lost 21 billion pesos in unfulfilled
transactions after imports from Australia, New Zealand
and The Netherlands between July and August 2002
displaced the province's vegetables.
"This situation prompts us to request for suspension
of the implementation of the General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade provision for the lifting of quantitative
restrictions on vegetables in the entire country, owing
to its injurious effects (on Filipino farmers),"
Cordillera officials said in their appeal to Ms
Macapagal.
Tim Howard is a PSNA member living in Whangarei
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