|
Eric is right that the WTO is an act of aggression
against farmers in countries like the Philippines and that such countries would
improve their circumstances if they could put high barriers against subsidized
agricultural produce from the US, EU and other "surplus" countries, probably
including Canada. Part of the damage done, as Eric implies, is that in
order to compete at all on the basis of price, Filipino farmers feel compelled
to get on the fertilizer-pesticide-financial bondage treadmill. I am not
sure what he prefers as a solution, but farm subsidies to help cover the costs
of production (the inputs trap) is not the way out. It works poorly even
in the US where the subsidies are abundant and seriously deter the transition to
organic technology, and even more poorly in Canada, where the subsidies are
usually less generous, amounting to a portion of the inputs cost. It takes
little or no imagination to realize that this transfer of income from general
taxpayers goes immediately into the hands of either the chemical industry
suppliers or to pay back loans for same to the farmers' bankers. And to
continue with subsidizing the chemical industry does not encourage
transition to sustainable practices and produce of higher quality. Until
governments can be persuaded to provide ecologically-oriented technical
assistance and put restrictions on inferior but cheaper imports (as well as
health-protecting regulations) some form of direct subsidy to impoverished
farmers may be the least-bad remedy. But it should be a direct income
supplement with no linkage to farmer revenue or production (a positive feedback
loop that makes the problem worse).
Keith Wilde
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, April 15, 2006 11:07
PM
Subject: MONETARY: Filipino Farming is
dying under the chemicalised farming and debt money system
Family subsidy or supplementary basic income
to family can reduce and even replace all other unnecessary subsidies-that do
not work for the citizens. In
the
Philippines,
there is no any form of subsidy to the poor Filipino farmers and their
families. Filipino farmers are dying. All over the
Philippines,
farming without any assistance from the government is dying as a way of modern life; many farms are untilled,
awaiting conversions to non-agricultural uses. It is good in EU and US,
farmers are organized well to mount a strong lobby to defend and protect their
interests. However, it appears that organic farming is still
marginalised even in USA. Rich nations continue to support the
costly operations of their farmers through huge price-distorting subsidies and
tariff walls against cheaper imports. In the
Philippines,
the situation is the opposite. More than 20 Million Filipino farmers and their
families are suffering terrible poverty, disabilities, injustice and hunger
under the life-health destroying, killing, environmentally-soil poisoning
chemically-based farming under the traps of multinational chemical companies
and loan sharks lending institutions. WTO is not for the poor farmers in the
poor countries but only for the protection of agricultural products of
the rich nations. There is injustice in this trade liberalization disastrously
affecting the poor farmers and their families especially the families and
innocent children.
We must continue
to work together for change and especially for organic farming and for
monetary and economic justice for the poor families.
Do you have any
comments?
Thank you for
reading.
Eric V.
Encina
Filipino
Alternative Solutions For Sustainable Survival, Inc.
c/o Lito Alhambra
Old House, Homesite, Km2, Brgy. Lawa-an,
PO Box 8, 5800
Roxas City, Capiz, Philippines
Tel. No. 0063 36
6216-454
Talk is cheap. Use Yahoo! Messenger to make PC-to-Phone calls. Great
rates starting at 1¢/min.
|