The Food Security of Mexico and Korea in free trade: Importance and destination of small production units

Abstract

With the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) signed in 1994, Mexico became more dependent on the foreign market to supply the food it consumes, it is estimated that the country’s global the food dependency is currently 42%. This document discusses the current importance of maintaining food security in two countries that have different experiences, but agricultural structures where small production units prevail. Mexico’s experience in liberalizing the corn market, since 1994 with NAFTA, has led to greater poverty, migration, rural unemployment, poor agricultural growth, reduction in the supply of corn, among others aspects.This analysis is contrasted with the experience of a protectionist policy in South Korea, which has maintained a of self-reliance food policy, mainly rice, the basis of their diet. Despite the fact that this country is twenty times smaller in size than Mexico, with more than 2.3 million small family production units, which only have 2 hectares on average, it has managed to maintain the self-sufficiency of this grain for more than five decades. The aimed that is brought to attention is to reflect on whether it is still possible for small agricultural production units to survive in a world that is increasingly globalized and dependent, for which it is analyzed in the case of rice in South Korea and the experience of Mexico in full liberalization of corn.