Colombian rice farmers worried about the FTA with the United States: there would be unlimited imports

A call for concern is launched by the professional association of rice in the face of the massive imports which will take place within the framework of the Free Trade Agreement – FTA that Colombia has with the United States, in the face of a possible crisis that the sector would experience, also generated by the absence of customs duties.

According to what the union communicates, the country is not ready to face the impact that the measures will have on the american ricethis is why, on behalf of the union, they expressed their concern about the possible questioning of the tariff elimination measures.

One of the calls was made by the Executive Director of the Colombian Chamber of Rice Industrialists of ANDI, Sandra Avellaneda, who took the floor saying that with these conditions, the Colombian rice producers they will be forced to increase their yields in the market in order to keep up with and compete with the rice that will arrive from the United States.

On behalf of the rice farmers in the departments of Tolima and Huila, the director said, “The mission of the country is to advance a process of preparation for the tariff reduction for rice from the United States”.

Avellaneda also mentioned that the tariff reduction for the American product would only end in seven years, so it would be done on January 1, 2030taking into account that the unlimited and duty-free entry of the product will take place on this same date.

He clarified that: “As a channel, we must prepare ourselves to meet this challenge. For this, it is a priority to agree on a competitiveness agenda between all the agents in the chain with a long-term vision and a strategy for exporting surpluses”.

For his part, Rafael Hernández, president of by faith He also spoke out against the fact and while he recognizes that Colombian producers have the ability to increase their productivity and even compete with American producers, this is not the only concern of the sector.

According to Hernández, to the technological and agronomic question, it should also be added that the rice growers of the United States receive important subsidies for the activityan aspect that could represent a significant disadvantage for domestic producers.

In fact, in conversation with the media More from Colombiapointed out that: “this country has camouflaged them with other elements such as environmental protection, which compensate for them and are the equivalent of a subsidy.”

De Fedearroz, the general manager, Rafael Hernández, issued a statement on March 13, 2023 in which he challenged both the producers and the national government in order to implement the adoption of measures allowing the sector to “maintain the stability that this producing sector experienced in 2022”.

According to the document, after carrying out an analysis of the different sectors that have an eye on the national agenda, it is urgent to start a planning process from the Farmers so that the number of hectares that are going to be planted in 2023 is not greater than those registered in 2022 and in this way, “a larger temporary surplus is avoided”.

In fact, the document also mentions that they have entered into dialogues with the producers in which it has been recommended to them that planning goes hand in hand with cost control and a crop management. In this way, priority should be given to planting in the best plots and avoiding their development in high-cost areas or “marginal areas”, “using contract farming, among other mechanisms to guarantee the purchase of the harvest”.

In the statement, Fedearroz also highlights the concern that exists due to the failure of the national government to send money that would be intended for the Storage incentivea tool that would be essential to withdraw temporary surpluses from the market in the seasonality of the harvest that will take place in the second half of the year.

Finally, he noted that:

“… reiterated his call for this mechanism to be part of the agricultural policy, as demanded by the union and the producers, because if it did not exist, a huge risk of crisis would be generated in a sector which recorded recovery and stability in 2022, as this would clearly affect the marketing of the crop.