Marketing Co-op Seen as Last Defense Against Free Trade

August 14, 2013 by Daniela Leave a comment

Why do governments sign these trade agreements that negatively impact their local producers? This article by Jimmy Laking, in the Phillipine Baguia Midland Courier, underscores the need to strengthen farmers marketing cooperatives to cope with the onslaught of vegetable products from China, that will flood the market, when the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement comes into effect:

Benguet Gov. Nestor Fongwan underscored last week the need to strengthen the farmers marketing cooperative to cope with the challenges of the free trade that is set to begin on 2015.

He said with the implementation of the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement two years from now, the country will be flooded with vegetable products that can come in without need for tariffs.“Hence, let us be one in the preservation of the vegetable industry by strengthening the marketing cooperative,” Fongwan told participants to the province-wide basic cooperative course conducted at the capitol.The participants represented more than 50 primary cooperatives in Benguet.Fongwan said the biggest threat remains the People’s Republic of China where the cost of production is much lesser than in this region because farmers need not pay taxes.“Our fear is that with the (unlimited) entry of their products, our industry will be threatened because of the excess in production,” he said.He said comparative-wise, the quality of temperate vegetables in Benguet (and in the neighboring provinces) is much better than those coming from China.

“There is a paramount need to operate as farmers’ cooperative by year 2014 to cope with the impending threat,” he said.

He urged organizers to intensify cooperative training to strengthen existing primary cooperatives.

Author: Daniela

I will forever be grateful I was introduced to the utility and beauty of hand crafted products early in life - from the symbols and motifs sewn onto the coarse linen fabric of Croatian traditional wear to the colorful Kilim carpets that decorated the parquet floors in my grandmother's living room. I treasure the memories of my grandfather teaching me how to protect myself against the "evil eye," the smell of the flower stalls in the open air market where my grandmother bought produce early every morning for the day’s meals and the summers spent at my great grandmother's where the village wags would come to gossip over thick, black Turkish coffee in her cool stone-floored kitchen. Someone noted that "For all of us that want to move forward, there are a very few that want to keep the old methods of production, traditions and crafts alive." I am a fellow traveler with those who value the old traditions and folk wisdom. I believe the knowledge they possess can contribute significantly to our efforts to build a more sustainable world - one that values the individual over the corporation, conservation over growth and happiness over wealth.