Mennonite
Central
Committee

Agriculture

Participants: Ana Miriam Ayala, Urbane Byler, Ruperto Cáceres, Herode Guillaumettre, Efraín Hernández, Linford Martin, Samuel Martínez, Rachel Miller, Patricio Mora, Pedro Ocón, Dietmar Woelke.

This topic was one of four that consultation participants discussed in small groups. The group discussed three issues:

1. What barriers and challenges are small agriculturalists faced with if they want to continue farming in a climate of economic globalization?

   • The importation of cheap basic grains – our small farmers (in Latin America) cannot compete with the quantity of imported products that enter at very low prices.
   • The fact that small producers have to depend on brokers to sell their product and have little possibility for setting their price.
   • Lack of technology.
   • Small producers have limited access to domestic and international price information.
   • Lack of flexibility on the part of small producers to diversify their production to more profitable crops instead of only producing basic grains.
   • Lack of personal capital to invest and so they become highly dependent on credit at high interest rates.
   • Many small producers are not even eligible to access credit.

2. Opportunities that arise from globalization

   • Globalization facilitates communication for finding markets for one’s products.
   • The availability of technical information which enable one to improve production methods.
   • Projects aimed at the diversification of crops and orchards.
   • Communication and transportation infrastructure.

   However, all of this is disputable because it is out of reach for the majority of our small producers. What is within reach is the solidarity of other peoples with our own people.

3. What strategies have you seen put into practice which help overcome the difficulties and take advantage of the opportunities?

   • The promotion of crop diversification via realistic feasibility studies.
   • The promotion of agricultural associations for the promotion of agricultural products.
   • Convert to sustainable agriculture practices to take advantage of what nature has to offer.
   • Promote just trade on a national and international basis.