Corn Price Crisis in Mexico and Guatemala
Popular organizations in Mexico and Guatemala are asking their governments to take concrete and urgent measures to protect the majority of the population from the current dramatic rise in the price of corn on the international market. In Mexico the price of tortillas, the principal national food, has doubled in the past year and in Guatemala speculation in corn prices has begin.
The causes of this crisis are related to politic and economic measures that the governments have taken in favor of the international commerce and corporations. Before NAFTA, Mexico imported around 10% of its corn. When NAFTA was signed in 1996 Mexico began to import GM and subsidized corn from the US. Today Mexico imports 50% of the corn they eat from the US. After NAFTA, the Mexican government eliminated CONASUPO, a state enterprise that regulated the politics, production, and marketing of corn. These two measures have given international grain corporations control of Mexican corn prices.
Representatives from the National Union of Autonomous Peasants Organizations in Mexico indicate that “the current price raise of the tortillas, caused by the corn’s raising price is not related to the small corn production, nor with less importation, but with the speculating practices of the companies that control corn (Cargill, Maseca-Archer Daniells Midland, Minsa-Arancia-Products International and Agroinsa) and with the lack of planning and regulation for corn production and marketing from the Mexican government.”
Popular organizations in Mexico and Guatemala are demanding that their governments renegotiate NAFTA and CAFTA so that the production and marketing of basic products such as corn and beans, that are strategic for food sovereignty, are not linked to international agreements. They argue that the state should create a mechanism to regulate production and marketing of corn and basic products. And that the government should encourage local and peasant production and stop subsidies to large farmers. They also argue against importing GM corn. And that the production of corn and basic goods shouldn’t be monopolized by national and transnational corporations.
The only way to confront the corn price crisis and the hunger that results is to encourage food sovereignty, based on sustainable agriculture. Before NAFTA, Mexico was largely self sufficient in corn production and they can be again with government regulation.
This is a guest editorial by Guatemalan Anthropologist Leonor Hurtardo
