MEXICO CITY - Government officials and Mexican farmers sat down at the negotiating table Thursday to begin talks aimed at reaching a pact to help Mexican farmers survive agricultural trade openings under the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The two sides appeared to be far apart in their approach to the problem, however.
President Vicente Fox's government has pledged to "armor-plate" Mexican agriculture against unfair competition and institute new polices — like technical assistance and some indirect subsidies — to help Mexican farms become more competitive.
But major farm groups have staged several weeks of angry demonstrations across the country claiming they will still be put out of business by foreign farms' efficiency and greater subsidies.
Farming organizations are demanding a doubling of subsidies and the cancellation of trade openings under NAFTA, which eliminated some of the last remaining tariffs on U.S. agricultural goods in January.
Despite their differences, farming leaders have promised to negotiate in good faith "and with a positive spirit," said Victor Suarez, head of a coalition called The Countryside Can't Stand Any More.
"This is a sign that President Fox is recognizing that the countryside is this country's number-one social problem," Suarez said, before the first, preparatory meeting of legislators, governors, federal officials and farm activists. A series of more formal meetings on the subject is set to begin Feb. 10.
Fox drew harsh criticism earlier this week when he said "there is no crisis as some have wanted to assert" on Mexican farms.
He appeared to backtrack Wednesday, saying "I fully understand that the primary, most profound human problem we have in Mexico is that of the countryside."
"Despite our economy's progress, thousands of families from the countryside and in Indian communities live in conditions of poverty," the president said.
Fox, a champion of free trade, has come under increasing pressure to provide some additional safeguards for Mexico's mostly small, backward farms, on which about one-quarter of the population depends.
Mexico announced last month that it would temporarily freeze all import permits for beans from the United States and Canada, Mexico's two trading partners in the NAFTA accord.
While that initially appeared a political move, the government quickly pointed out it was a temporary measure intended to weed out companies "triangulating" Asian-grown beans into Mexico, by importing them through U.S. ports.
The import ban will be lifted once an investigation of the illegal imports is completed.
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