Countries
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Stories about food from different countries
Wheat in Egypt
Rice in Bangladesh
Corn in Mexico
Mexico provides a case study of what happens when a country comes under an IMF Structural Adjustment Package; ultimately local producers of staple foods are driven out of the market.
- During the 1980s Mexico forced to adopt IMF package including withdrawal of government from public services and 'intervention in the economy'. Leads to dismantling of state owned marketing authorities and hand over of state distribution systems to Transnational Grain Companies.
- Then Mexico signs NAFTA and reduces its tariffs against US corn. Local producers are forced out of the market because US corn prices are much lower (cheap fuel; agricultural subsidies).
- But then with the introduction of subsidies for biofuels in USA, the transnational grain merchants withhold & divert supplies to US biofuel production. Mexico is left with a corn shortage
