6. Any strategy to reduce imports and foster national production needs to be implemented
with care.
Any outright ban on imports of cheap meats, for example, is likely to have
negative consequences, penalising urban consumers without benefiting national
producers, who would not be ready to respond to such an immediate measure.
A gradual
approach needs to be taken to support national production and decrease imports,
possibly using strategies to ensure consumers buy local produce.
It is perfectly feasible for
the state to adopt such measures to fulfil economic and social objectives, without
contravening WTO rules.
7. In the rice sector, a huge amount could be done to support rice farmers, who have been
abandoned to a serious decline in the last two decades.
A lot of technical support and
investment is needed to increase production and productivity, and many organisations in
Haiti feel that a tariff increase would be advisable for this product.
This policy was also
endorsed by the EU in the 1990s.
Even a small tariff increase could help improve the
meagre profit margins of tens of thousands of extremely poor rice farmers and tariff
revenues could be channelled back into supporting rice producers' development.
Ensuring
the rice sector was more profitable would also mean the huge loan taken on from the IDB
(announced in November 2003) would have more chance of supporting a viable initiative
over the medium to long term.
8. For the livestock sector, producers and businesses need structural support to re-launch
national production.
AHPEL has already done a lot of work to develop strategies in this
regard.
Addressing the constraints in the local supply of animal feed is a key issue, and
AHPEL now needs government support to proceed further.
It is not asking for a hike in
tariffs, but would certainly endorse a national policy aimed at reducing dependence on
imports and promoting national production.
Posted by Lionne on 4/24/08 7:45 PM
REPLY to topic
or start a
NEW Topic
Bookmark it via:
Digg,
del.icio.us,
StumbleUpon,
Google
