This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 13, May 8-14, 2005
Filipino Farmers Face
More Risks under New WTO Commitment The
impending WTO decision is again another disastrous commitment that will bring
serious implications for farmers' livelihood and the country's food security.
The local market will be awash with more cheap imported rice -- a deathblow for
poor Filipino farmers already beleaguered by competition from cheap rice
imports. © 2004 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
By
IBON Features
Posted by Bulatlat
The good news: The Philippines' request to extend the quantitative restrictions
(QR) on rice under the World Trade Organization (WTO) will likely be granted.
The bad news: The request, even if granted, comes with more burdensome
obligations that practically make the extension meaningless.
In March 2004, the country informed the WTO of its intent to continue the QR on
rice imports, set to expire on June 30 this year. After months of negotiations,
Philippine negotiators agreed to increase the minimum access volume (MAV) of
rice for the seven-year extension of the special treatment for rice. This means
that from the current MAV of 142,204 metric tons, the country will have to
increase the MAV for rice to 359,000 metric tons and keep it at this level until
2012.
The Philippines will also give country-specific quotas to its trade partners.
China, for instance, was granted an export quota of 25,000 metric tons of rice
yearly. Nine countries, including China, have negotiated for concessions in
exchange for supporting the Philippines'
bid to extend the rice QR.
The extension of the rice QR is supposed to give some protection for
Filipino rice farmers from cheaper rice imports. But with the increased MAV and
export quotas, the rice QR extension becomes an empty provision.
The impending WTO decision is again another disastrous commitment that will
bring serious implications for farmers' livelihood and the country's food
security. The local market will be awash with more cheap imported rice -- a
deathblow for poor Filipino farmers already beleaguered by competition from
cheap rice imports.
This month alone, the National Food Authority plans to import 400,000 tons of
rice, bringing this year's total rice imports to 1.48 million metric tons. This
is already some 14.5 percent of current domestic
consumption estimated at 28,000 tons a day or 10.22 million metric tons every
year.
The nine WTO member countries that have agreed to the extension and negotiated
for concessions are Australia, Canada, Pakistan, Argentina, India, China, and
Egypt. The United States and Thailand are still
negotiating for their demands. There are speculations that the United States
wants to include non-rice related issues in the talks. Posted by Bulatlat