APEC's farmers urged to be more efficient

APEC's farmers urged to be more efficient

MANILA (Reuter): Farmers in emerging Asia-Pacific economies
need to become more efficient to compete in a free trade
environment if developed nations continue producing cheaper
commodities, agricultural experts said yesterday.

"Rural folk in developing countries in the Asia-Pacific cannot
survive in a free trade arena if they don't get enough support
from their governments," said Mitsugi Kamiya, president of
Japan's Food and Agriculture Research Center,

Kamiya, attending a three-day forum on regional food and
agricultural policy, told Reuters that farmers in developing
countries would need government help to prepare for a free trade
environment.

Such assistance, he said, could be in the form of investment
on infrastructure and research and development.

The experts included a mix of economists from the private
sector and government institutions in APEC member economies.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum aims to
bring down trade tariffs and liberalize investment among its
members by the year 2010 for developed countries and 2020 for
developing countries.

"APEC should address first fair trade before promoting free
trade," said Raul Montemayor, president of the Philippine's
Federation of Free Farmers Cooperative Inc.

He said farmers were worried that free trade might lead to a
flood of commodities from rich nations which, he said, subsidized
their farm sectors.

But others said developed countries had considerably reduced
subsidies on farm products.

"Developed countries, including the United States, have
reduced subsidies given to farm products due to the burden this
creates on their budgets and as a result of their commitments in
the promotion of liberalized trade," said Eugenia Muchnik of the
U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Kamiya, an economist, said there was a need for farmers in
poorer nations to improve efficiency.

"Infrastructure in production and distribution is under-
equipped ... it may be difficult to avoid heavier dependence on
imported food," he said.

Meanwhile, Boeing Co. Chairman Frank Shrontz said in Seattle,
the United States, Tuesday that APEC's business leaders this
month will propose long-term visas for frequent travelers and
measures to speed the movement of goods and capital in APEC
nations.

Shrontz, in a luncheon speech to executives from the 16
countries of the APEC, outlined recommendations to be presented
by a business advisory council in advance of APEC's November
summit in the Philippines.

"Clearly there are great opportunities for improving the
cross-border flow of people, goods and services," said Shrontz,
one of three U.S. members of the advisory council.

He said a "semi-permanent" business visa that would be valid
in all 16 countries for five or 10 years is among the changes
that business leaders hope could be adopted as early as the
November summit.

"Today visas are often single-entry, always single country,
and can take weeks to obtain," he said.

He said the business leaders also would like to see special
APEC "business lanes" at points of entry and adoption of free-
trade policies before the current deadlines of 2010 for developed
countries and 2020 for others.

Business leaders also plan to propose that APEC nations adopt
a list of priority infrastructure projects that would qualify for
a uniform set of liberalized investment principles to encourage
private foreign investment.

APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong
Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New
Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand,
Singapore and the United States.