Colombia is latest addition to pantheon of free-trade follies
Colombia is latest addition to pantheon of free-trade follies
Jonathan Glennie
Thursday 19 September 2013 02.00 EDT
The failure of free-trade agreements has repeatedly highlighted the need for more humane, intelligent agricultural interventions
As Colombia takes a breather after weeks of strikes and disruption that triggered violence on the streets of Bogotá in late August, one can only reflect on how predictable it all was.
The same storyline has been played out in countless countries. A failure by successive governments to invest in things that small-scale farmers need to thrive – better roads to get their produce to markets, subsidies to reduce the soaring cost of inputs – is then compounded by a decision to open up the countryside to international competition.
In this case, that involved a major free-trade agreement with the US that came into force last year. Colombia's farmers – who were barely eking out a living in the first place – are being undercut, making it even harder from them to make ends meet.
Years ago, I spoke to farmers in Catatumbo, where the latest round of national unrest began. Their potatoes and onions were selling for a pittance, and they were desperately trying to avoid the temptation to grow coca, which – though often the only option if people want to put food on the table, send their kids to school, or make improvements to their homes – brings the threat of violence. Rather than support these farmers, the Colombian government works with the US government to "fumigate" swaths of land in the hope of occasionally drizzling coca crops with chemicals. Talk about attacking the symptom not the cause.
More:
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2013/sep/19/colombia-free-trade
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