IPS-English MEXICO: New Recipe Against Poverty
 
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:08:57 -0700

 
Diego Cevallos

MEXICO CITY, Apr 28   (IPS)  - The government of conservative President
Felipe Calderón presented a new anti-poverty strategy in Mexico Monday,
which will initially focus on delivering food aid to the poor.



Mexico has been caught with its guard down by the current global
food crisis, because of the steady drop in employment in rural areas,
the urbanisation process and growing imports of grains and oilseeds,
say analysts.

Although the impact of the crisis has so far been small, the rise
in some food prices has begun to be felt by the poor, who according
to official figures spend around 40 percent of their income on food,
compared to the national average of 25 percent.

”The food component will be particularly relevant in an unprecedented
international scenario of scarcity and food price hikes, which society
and governments together must confront in a coordinated and determined
manner,” said Calderón, announcing the new initiative.

The programme will initially benefit some 150,000 families living
in 80,000 different communities, mainly rural villages that have neither
schools nor health clinics.

These impoverished families, who will receive food aid, medicines
and primary health care, currently fall outside the range of ”Oportunidades”
(Opportunities) -- the main government social programme, which provides
cash transfers to five million poor families, conditional on school
attendance and the regular use of preventive health care services
by mothers and children, among other requisites.

The aim of the new anti-poverty initiative, ”Vivir Mejor” (Live Better),
is to join together all of the government's social programmes in one
overarching strategy.

”Vivir Mejor is based on the premise that the market in and of itself
is incapable of generating decent living conditions for people, and
that the state's equalising action is needed to correct the terrible
conditions of marginalisation suffered by millions of Mexicans,” said
Calderón.

Poverty in Mexico is now at its lowest level ever, in proportional
terms, according to a report by the National Public Health Institute
and the private Centre of Higher Research and Studies in Social Anthropology
that focused on the impact of the government's social assistance programmes
for the 2000 to 2006 period.

But that achievement could be undermined if food prices continue
to climb, which means the government must boost funding for Oportunidades
and must adopt special measures, recommended Igor Paunovic, head of
the Economic Development Unit of the Economic Commission for Latin
America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Mexico.

Since late 2007, the price of ”pan dulce” (sweet baked goods that
are a staple of the Mexican diet) rose nine percent, rice 12 percent,
eggs 23 percent and chicken 10 percent.

Nevertheless, the consumer price index -- which includes products
and services other than food -- only rose 0.72 percent in March and
0.06 percent in the first half of April.

There is no crisis in Mexico, but the country is in a state of ”yellow
alert” which could graduate to red if the government and producers
are not careful, Jaime Yesaki, president of the National Agricultural
Council, the agribusiness association, told IPS.

Yesaki acknowledged, however, that Mexico is highly dependent on
food from abroad, because it imports 17 million tons of grains a year,
which puts it in a vulnerable position in the current crisis.

The international price of rice has gone up 141 percent since January,
while the price of wheat has risen 130 percent in the last 12 months
and corn is at its highest price in 12 years.

Although for now, Mexico is not one of the countries suffering major
problems because of the rising food prices, it is facing a potential
threat and must not let down its guard, due to its increasing dependence
on food imports, Diego Cabot, a consultant to food companies, told
IPS.

To meet domestic demand, Mexico imported, on average, 43 percent
of its supplies of products like maize, rice, sorghum and oilseeds
in 2007, compared to 35 percent in 2004.

Local production of most grains is stagnant as a result of the problems
suffered by the Mexican countryside, where 75 percent of the country's
extreme poverty is concentrated.

Nonetheless, Mexico remains one of the world's top exporters of fresh
produce and fruit.

Observers say the growing impoverishment of the rural sector is also
linked to the country's intense urbanisation process.

The government's National Population Council reports that two out
of three people in Mexico live in towns and cities, a proportion that
is growing. In the last five years of the 20th century, urban areas
absorbed 80 percent of the country's demographic growth, and by 2010
that percentage will have grown to 85 percent.

The number of people working in agriculture has dropped sharply,
declining from 6.1 to 5.9 million between 2005 and 2007 alone.


*****
+ LATIN AMERICA: Eliminating Poverty at Low Cost (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42141)
+ ECONOMY-MEXICO: Sunny Today, Cloudy Tomorrow (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42126)
+ ECONOMY-LATIN AMERICA: From Optimism to Concern (http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42086)


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