Participants in the 31st Mercosur Specialized Meeting on Family Farming (REAF) debated this Thursday (31) how the agreement signed between the South American bloc and the European Union could affect family farmers from an economic, commercial and social point of view. REAF is being held in Chapecó (SC), under the coordination of the Secretariat of Family Agriculture and Cooperatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa).
More than 80 guests from public, private and cooperative entities linked to family farming from Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Bolivia participated in the event.
The negotiators from the 4 Mercosur member countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) who participated in the discussions with the European Union presented the main points of some chapters of the Agreement that directly affect the family farming sector.
Mapa's Secretary of Family Agriculture and Cooperatives, Fernando Schwanke, highlighted that the discussion on the agreement is very fruitful for public managers and family farming organizations from all countries in the region.
“We need to know this topic and prepare ourselves for what lies ahead, in all aspects, positive and negative. We can use positive issues to our advantage and prepare for situations that may be negative for our farmers”, commented Schwanke.
Among the topics highlighted by the negotiators are cooperation policy, sanitary and phytosanitary issues, intellectual property, genetic resources, traditional knowledge and technology transfer.
The representative of Brazil, Gustavo Cupertino Domingues, who is part of Mapa's Secretariat of Commerce and International Relations, explained the panorama of trade in the world and the participation of Brazilian and European products in world trade. Cupertino highlighted that all products considered sensitive by the Brazilian market were excluded from the agreement, such as wheat, mushrooms, products derived from grapes, aquaculture, dairy products and others. Among the opportunities opening up for Brazil are the fish, instant coffee, tobacco, wine and, mainly, fruit sectors, which will have free trade in Europe over the next ten years.
Considering the important products for family farming that received tariff-free quotas, Cupertino cited rice, corn, honey, eggs, cheese, powdered milk, garlic and meat. Some Brazilian products will receive mixed treatment, such as orange juice, cachaça and chocolates, a sector that motivated many discussions during the negotiations.
The Brazilian representative reiterated that the agreement is very large, may be partially valid and that it presents many more opportunities than disadvantages, as potential risks can be controlled by mechanisms such as safeguards and rules of origin.
For Valeria Csukasi, negotiator at the Uruguayan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, understanding the agreement is a task that can take years and depends on the interpretation of each sector. Valeria highlighted that Reaf has a fundamental role in this process of analysis and institutionalization of the work to assess the impact of the agreement on family farming. She highlighted that the agreement presents flexibility for the parliaments of each country to decide in their own time on the advantages and disadvantages of the principles established in the proposal.
According to Valeria, on the part of Mercosur, there is an 8% gap in non-liberalized trade, including some products considered sensitive, such as wheat, rice, dairy products and meat. She recalled that there is the possibility of reducing the price of entry of citrus products into the European Union. Valeria concluded by reiterating that the Mercosur-European Union Agreement should be seen as an opportunity to open new spaces for family farming and as a gateway to other negotiations.
The representative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of Paraguay, Maria del Carmen Lopes, emphasized that governments recognize the need to apply measures to guarantee food health and sanitary and phytosanitary protection, but highlighted that standards should not cause unnecessary obstacles and unjustified and must follow the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles of scientific evidence, transparency, risk assessment, regionalization, among others.
The Argentine negotiator highlighted that there are some challenges regarding animal welfare, biotechnology, among others. However, she considered that at a general level the agreement establishes strategic and permanent contact with the European Union and positively guarantees a reasonable transition time. For Carmen, the agreement can also promote economic development, reduce or eliminate restrictions, simplify procedures, improve conditions of access to goods and services and favor regional integration.
The topic of intellectual property and geographical indications was presented by the representative of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of Argentina, Roxana Carmen Blasetti. She also exposed opportunities around the issue of traditional knowledge, technology transfer with priority for family farming and proposed the creation of a regional system for registering value-added instruments for the recognition and protection of products at a regional level.
Social organizations such as Coprafam (Confederación de Organizaciones de Productores Familiares del Mercosur Ampliado) and the OCB (Organization of Cooperatives of Brazil) also expressed their perceptions about the agreement. For representatives of civil society, it is necessary to increase the resilience of sectors that may be negatively affected by the agreement and strengthen production chains that can enter the international market.
For the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), represented at Reaf by Carlos Mermot, among the favorable points of the agreement are the continuation of public purchases for family farming products, the provision of environmental and labor commitments; the recognition of indications of origin and the opening of the possibility of starting self-certification of origin. Mernot also highlighted among the topics considered advantageous the mechanisms listed in the agreement to facilitate the participation of small and medium-sized producers in international trade; and dispute resolution through which the parties undertake to maintain a conciliation body. Among the points considered sensitive, the production of dairy products and dairy products was highlighted.
The organization proposes that all Mercosur countries formulate public policies to compensate for the protection of the rural sector and agroindustry in the European Union, in addition to the Institutionalization of scopes to ensure monitoring of the process of the agreement coming into force and prioritization of the regional agenda.
Reaf 2019 runs until next Friday (1) in Chapecó (SC). Created in 2004, Reaf is a meeting point for participatory dialogue between family farmers, organizations, rural institutions, academia and governments, with the aim of thinking about specific public policies for small farmers in the region.
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