More than two decades have passed since the implementation of the North American Free Trade agreement (NAFTA) in 1994 between Canada, Mexico and the United states. The agreement was to create an economic collaboration, by eliminating tariffs on products between its members, thus economic growth was expected. Yet, its particular effects on the Mexican agricultural sector are still widely disputed. This controversy is due to various agricultural reforms and domestic policies that the Mexican government passed, before and during the NAFTA era, during the time that the agricultural trade liberalization that followed with NAFTA occurred. This essay will explore how the Mexican agricultural sector was affected by the implementation of NAFTA especially …show more content…
This can be attributed to the exposure of unprepared Mexican farmers to North American concurrence that was more advanced, which they could not withstand. This is important because NAFTA was signed by the Mexican government to create more job opportunities for the Mexican people and to create stability for the economy so that Mexicans would not have to migrate north. Carlos Salinas de Gortari claimed during his administration that by signing NAFTA Mexico would “export goods, not people”. The North American Free Trade Agreement led to the displacement of the rural workforce and did not create jobs for them to work in. This has caused a severe effect in …show more content…
In hope of liberating the agricultural economy Mexico passed reforms eliminating support it had been giving farmers with different state agricultural agencies. This led to the Mexican government dismantling the state agency CONASUPO (Gisele Henriques and Raj Patel 2003, p.22). As stated by Gisele and Patel the abolishment of CONASUPO led to small famers having little to no “adaptation mechanisms” to cope with the now free market (2003, p.22-23). Procampo was then created to substitute some of CONASUPO functions. Leading to public spending favoring medium to large producers and not considering small and substantial farmers (Gisele Henriques and Raj Patel 2003, p.16-22). Unfortunately, the U.S. subsidies have affected the Free trade in the agricultural sector with Mexico. Due to these subsidies, Mexican farmers cannot compete in the free market and this causes them to lose their jobs. Adding to this, dumping has occurred under NAFTA, leading to the displacement of millions of rural workers in Mexico. This shows us that NAFTA had a negative effect on the sector, by eliminating tariffs but not