Abinader stresses food security requires protecting local rice producers

[Dolores]

When President Luis Abinader chose Sonia Guzman as Dominican ambassador to the United States, for sure he had in mind her experience as the country’s top negotiator for the DR Cafta trade agreement. Guzman was the country’s lead negotiator for the treaty for the Dominican government during the President Hipolito Mejia administration. The extension of protection to rice producers included in the DR Cafta treaty was sure on his mind.

The treaty protects rice producers through 2025. With the deadline encroaching for eliminating all tariffs on rice imports, producers are concerned they will lose local market share to US imports. The Abinader administration understands that the United States subsidizes rice production in the United States, whereby that country has an unfair trading advantage.

President Abinader stated in the 27 February 2023 state of the nation address: “Let it...

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[Kipling333]

Here we go again ..only the public suffers when protectionist policy takes hold .The United States, like France, has always been protectionist when it comes to meat ,sugar and other agricultural produce . They limit imports of these products into their country . I suppose the DR will have to simply follow suit and take off the tariffs but put on a tonnage limit on rice imports.

 

[NanSanPedro]

Here we go again ..only the public suffers when protectionist policy takes hold .The United States, like France, has always been protectionist when it comes to meat ,sugar and other agricultural produce . They limit imports of these products into their country . I suppose the DR will have to simply follow suit and take off the tariffs but put on a tonnage limit on rice imports.

I think Luis is learning a lesson from Haiti and the 2 Clinton thugs.

 

[CristoRey]

Here we go again ..only the public suffers when protectionist policy takes hold .The United States, like France, has always been protectionist when it comes to meat ,sugar and other agricultural produce . They limit imports of these products into their country . I suppose the DR will have to simply follow suit and take off the tariffs but put on a tonnage limit on rice imports.

Instead of working to increase production when he first took office (as he promised to do during his campaign) he chose to increase imports. Not a smart move. I'm sure his business friends/ associates and the people who helped finance his election were thrilled but then BAM! supply chain issues and the price of all imported goods shot thru the roof. Now that he's finally come to his senses and realized his bad decisions are having a negative impact on the overall cost of living, he's decided to change course. Good for him.
Protectionist? I don't think so. More like a common sense way of governing and putting the citizen's best interest before your cronies. Good job Luis.

 

[malko]

Instead of working to increase production when he first took office (as he promised to do during his campaign) he chose to increase imports. Not a smart move. I'm sure his business friends/ associates and the people who helped finance his election were thrilled but then BAM! supply chain issues and the price of all imported goods shot thru the roof. Now that he's finally come to his senses and realized his bad decisions are having a negative impact on the overall cost of living, he's decided to change course. Good for him.
Protectionist? I don't think so. More like a common sense way of governing and putting the citizen's best interest before your cronies. Good job Luis.

Except he seems to be doing it for the wrong reasons.

If he had said I will protect DR rice producers because I dont want cheap US rice full of different E-numbers and genetic-mutated strains, to flood the DR market and perhaps create future health problems , well props to him.

But no, apparently he is just scared of cheap US rice flooding the DR market. Per the article.
So Dominicans could have had access to cheaper rice in 2025...... but nope instead they will have to rely on domestic production.
Helping/incentivising domestic producers to be more competitive would have been the way to go, in the first place.

 

[bob saunders]

Except he seems to be doing it for the wrong reasons.

If he had said I will protect DR rice producers because I dont want cheap US rice full of different E-numbers and genetic-mutated strains, to flood the DR market and perhaps create future health problems , well props to him.

But no, apparently he is just scared of cheap US rice flooding the DR market. Per the article.
So Dominicans could have had access to cheaper rice in 2025...... but nope instead they will have to rely on domestic production.
Helping/incentivising domestic producers to be more competitive would have been the way to go, in the first place.

American subsides for rice are huge but hidden under an umbrella of other programs. A country the size of the DR has no hope in hell of competing with those kind of subsides.

 

[malko]

American subsides for rice are huge but hidden under an umbrella of other programs. A country the size of the DR has no hope in hell of competing with those kind of subsides.

It may well be the case, however that should have been addressed during the signing of the CAFTA treaty---- or even better, not signed at all.

 

[Squat]

Haiti's rice industry has been killed by US rice showing up tax-free in the 1980s. Result was countryside folks flooding new ghettos in the capital city of Port-au-Prince, which now results to the whole nation being ruled by those armed gangs. Do we want such things in the DR?

The gangsters are the kids (or grand-kids) of those ex-rice farmers who left the countryside because of the destruction of the rice-related jobs.

 

[Kipling333]

The more one thinks about the problem of protecting the rice industry in the DR from imports that arrive here cheaper than the DR farmers can produce rice .the more you realise all the problems associated with protection . From my experience ,and I do not eat much rice, the rice produced here is the short grain non aromatic variety that seems to stick together very easily. If no tariffs or quotas were placed on foreign rice , then the DR rice farmers may be forced to produce a better rice .maybe one of the long grain varieties with an excellent flavour amd smell. There are thousands of different types of rice. On a similar note, imagine if the DR farmers produced oranges and mandarins that were easy to peel and were full of flavour , then markets would open up everywhere . Equally if a higher quality banana was produced here that was equal to the bananas that are exported from Africa. Somewhere along the line a deal must be done along the lines of the Government saying ,we will give the farmers temporary protection but they must find ways of looking after themselves by economies of scale, improved varieties and better marketing.

 

[CristoRey]

The more one thinks about the problem of protecting the rice industry in the DR from imports that arrive here cheaper than the DR farmers can produce rice .the more you realise all the problems associated with protection . From my experience ,and I do not eat much rice, the rice produced here is the short grain non aromatic variety that seems to stick together very easily. If no tariffs or quotas were placed on foreign rice , then the DR rice farmers may be forced to produce a better rice .maybe one of the long grain varieties with an excellent flavour amd smell. There are thousands of different types of rice. On a similar note, imagine if the DR farmers produced oranges and mandarins that were easy to peel and were full of flavour , then markets would open up everywhere . Equally if a higher quality banana was produced here that was equal to the bananas that are exported from Africa. Somewhere along the line a deal must be done along the lines of the Government saying ,we will give the farmers temporary protection but they must find ways of looking after themselves by economies of scale, improved varieties and better marketing.

They have a very long road ahead of them but definitely a step in the right direction.

 

[Yourmaninvegas]

Cut off the cheap imports by building the kind of wall that really works: tariffs.
Domestic industries especially related to food security should be protected.
Educate the consumers about the advantages of domestically produced food.
Level the playing field using tariffs.
Then let the consumers decide what they want to put in their bodies: Real food or GMO lab engineered slop.