MEXICO CITY - Three alliances of farm groups rejected government calls for talks on improving the plight of Mexico's farmers, saying officials reneged on promises for a broader dialogue.
The groups announced they would boycott talks until President Vicente Fox returns from a tour of Europe and they can speak with him.
On Sunday, the government called on farmers, lawmakers and experts to attend a series of hearings next month aimed at suggesting changes in farm policies.
Fox called for the meetings to discuss poverty in the countryside and to head off threatened protests, including closure of border bridges, by the farm groups.
The protesters had demanded a meeting on farm problems that would be under less government control than the hearings and which would result in a formal agreement. Fox had seemed to agree, promising as recently as Thursday a National Agriculture Convention and "the signing of a great agreement for the Mexican countryside."
"It is an open violation of the agreement," Victor Suarez of the coalition known as The Countryside Can't Stand More said Monday.
The groups, dominated by small-plot farmers, want the government to re-negotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, saying that it has been disastrous for small farms.
NAFTA has dramatically increased trade between the United States and Mexico. Backers, including Fox, say it has created jobs and given better products and lower prices to Mexican and U.S. consumers.
But critics say small farms have been unable to take advantage of those exports and have been hurt by low prices.
The farm groups also want expanded government aid for people in the countryside.
The farmers' complaints have been tied to the Jan. 1 lifting of tariffs on many U.S. imports, including wheat, rice, dairy products, poultry, pork and apples.
The farmers also are worried about the steady reduction of tariffs on the products that are most crucial for many Mexicans: corn, beans and sugar. Under NAFTA, tariffs on those products are being reduced yearly and are to reach zero on Jan. 1, 2008.
Critics also ridiculed the government's proposal urging farmers to write their proposals on computers and present them with Microsoft Power Point. Many farmers live in shacks and barely have enough to eat.
The protesting groups include the Permanent Agrarian Congress and El Barzon, or "the yoke-strap," which takes its name from a famous Mexican song about the hardships of farm life.
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