Agricultural Subsidies

Yes gentlemen! Not be able to subsidize our agricultural economy because we break international rules anti-dumping, i.e. do unfair competition at the international level and therefore produce discomfort in the global trade, thats a taboo cigar. The developed world is strongly protectionist and subsidizes full hands. In 1991, the agricultural subsidies granted by the OECD countries totaled $ 180 billion. But, for the present have declined sharply, according to the first world: the total for the year 96 of the Producer Subsidy Equivalent ruble or the equivalent of the subsidy to the producer is nothing less and nothing more than 166 billion dollars and something like 150 billion dollars for the year 1997! Only in the European Union, protection costs about 72,000 million dollars, for the year 97, of which 2.6 billion is spent on storing surplus production. All this without counting indirect subsidies benefiting producers, represented, for example, at low costs of its inputs and its agricultural machinery (minimum precio-salario ratio), as well as large State investments for research and technology transfer.

Before these exorbitant figures is anyone perplexed. It is thus impossible to compete. It is thus impossible to develop our sector. So economic openness can only serve to annihilate the Colombian countryside and the Latin American, even more if we consider the good level of tariff protection which prevents the entry of our products to the major international centres of consumption. The answer, according to some, is exploiting our comparative advantages, i.e.

dedicate ourselves to produce exotic, incultivable in the northern hemisphere for climatic reasons and of soil, taking advantage of our workforce as cheap! But all we know, those are purely argumentative reasons, before such an exaggeration of protections, subsidies and special agro abroad treatments. The consequence has been the unemployment rural, violence, common crime, armed struggle and, worst of all for the developed world, the explosion of illicit crops. I say the worst, because some consider the phenomenon of high risk! for their national security But even so, the rich countries want to win also of that phenomenon and invented the famous collaborations in the fight against drugs which are not but donations of second-hand computers and bank loans, with fluctuating interest. Never has occurred buy at best prices products of those chosen for alternative development programmes, but someday they must do if they want to our Latin American coca away from their noses! For these reasons we should not have fear of subsidizing our agricultural economy and public credit for the sector.