Voluntary Report - public distribution

**Date:** 3/28/2005

**GAIN Report Number:** MX5026

MX5000

**Mexico**

**Agricultural Situation**

**New Agricultural Center Created to Guide Mexican Lower Chamber**

**2005**

**Approved by:**

![](media/image1.wmf)Suzanne E. Heinen

U.S. Embassy

**Prepared by:**

Carlos González

**Report Highlights:**

A new center, the Center for Studies of Sustainable Rural Development
and Food Sovereignty, was recently launched to provide expert guidance
and analysis on agricultural issues to the Mexican Lower Chamber of
Deputies. This Center appears in many ways similar to the Congressional
Research Service and is expected to provide a steady source of
agricultural expertise to the Lower Chamber of Deputies.

Includes PSD Changes: No

Includes Trade Matrix: No

Unscheduled Report

Mexico \[MX1\]

\[MX\]

**FAS/Mexico's Executive Summary:** The Center for Studies of
Sustainable Rural Development and Food Sovereignty was recently
established by Mexico's Lower Chamber of Deputies. It is expected to
support the Lower Chamber by providing studies and analysis of issues
affecting Mexican agriculture, rural development, and associated fields.
The Center will work closely with Mexican universities and research
centers to meet the research requests posed by the Lower Chamber, which
also plays a large role in securing, and renewing, its funding. Center
staff are permanent employees who should not be affected by changes in
the Mexican political landscape. Moreover, the Center itself will aim to
avoid political leanings in its analyses and intends to provide strictly
objective reports.

**Background:** Proposed by Diputado Victor Suarez (PRD) of the Lower
Chamber of Deputies, the Center for Studies of Sustainable Rural
Development and Food Sovereignty (CEDRSSA, by its Spanish acronym) was
created on May 10, 2004 by Article 49, Part 3 of the Organic Law of the
General Congress of Mexico. Federal funds were apportioned for its
creation and CEDRSSA funding was again approved for this year. While
future funding is not guaranteed, the Center is expected to receive
support indefinitely provided it consistently and successfully meets its
mission. In addition, the Federal Government will finance the
construction of a new building for CEDRSSA, to be located near the Lower
Chamber of Deputies in a new Center for Legislative Studies building.

The Lower Chamber was instrumental in the creation of the Center and
securing its budget, creating a body to advise it on agricultural and
rural development issues. More specifically, CEDRSSA will focus on
supporting the Lower Chamber's Committee for the Study of Rural
Development and will provide scientific research and analysis on these
issues as well as analyze potential legislation in these fields. This
committee also authorizes the Center's budget and sets its substantive
research agenda. However, the Center will also support other
Congressional members, especially considering that half of the Diputados
are members of the rural sector. CEDRSSA will attempt to keep reports
and recommendations as far from political leanings as possible and,
instead, provide objective results and analyses.

The full staff has only been in place since mid-October and was assigned
to the Center according to the current proportion of representation
between the different parties in Congress. However, while the
assignments carried political overtones, all staff had to meet rigorous
criteria for selection. In fact, a majority of them hold post-graduate
degrees, many from universities in the United States and Europe. In
addition, assigned staff will fall under the civil servant category and
will remain in their positions regardless of changes in the political
landscape. The staff, which represent different agencies within the
government, currently number 28. The Center's Director, Dr. Cesar
Turrent Fernandez, is guaranteed a six year term that, though unlikely,
may be renewed for another six years. Dr. Turrent was nominated for the
position by Diputado Cruz Lopez (PRI) of the Agriculture and Livestock
Commission, which then forwarded his name, along with two others
nominated by the Commission, for a full vote by the Lower Chamber of
Deputies.

CEDRSSA is divided into four main areas:

-   Environment, Technical and Social Studies;

-   Profitability and Competitiveness -- encompassing studies on
    production chain issues, financing and inputs;

-   Evaluation of Public Policies; and

-   Strategic Proposals -- developing long-term proposals within the
    legal and institutional framework of the Mexican Government to
    establish successful, integrated programs.

In addition, CEDRSSA will perform cross-cutting studies on issues that
fall into more than one of the above areas.

CEDRSSA will work with an External Advisory Council to coordinate
CEDRSSA's research agenda. This Council will include domestic farmer and
producer organizations, State governments (through the Mexican
Association of Secretaries of Agricultural Development), and academic,
research and strategic institutions focusing on national development.
Moreover, CEDRSSA will be able to request research, studies, and
evaluations via collaborations it establishes with universities and
national investigative centers focused on addressing problems facing the
rural sector. Lastly, CEDRSSA will also rely on the support of the
Center for the Study of Public Finances (CEFP), the Center for the Study
of Law and Parliamentary Investigation (CEDIP), and the Center for the
Study of Social Issues and Public Opinion (CESOP) to accomplish its
objectives.

In conjunction with the Advisory Council, CEDRSSA will prepare biannual
working plans detailing future projects. These projects will be
undertaken in tandem with national research institutions, universities,
and national centers for strategic investigations. Furthermore, policy
evaluation, analysis of policy implications, and the formulation of
future public policy proposals will be performed in collaboration with
rural organizations and producers, local governments, universities, and
research centers.

According to official documents, CEDRSSA will be granted the
administrative, material, and financial resources required to meet its
objectives. CEDRSSA's 2004 budget was initially set at 0.79% of the
Lower Chamber of Deputies' 2004 budget. Based on the Lower Chamber's
three billion-peso budget, this would have amounted to almost 24 million
pesos. This equation was later adjusted and the Center was allotted
significant funding in 2004, totaling 45 million pesos. Of this sum,
more than 25 million pesos were earmarked for the construction of the
Center for Legislative Studies building. However, considering that the
Center was not fully staffed until October 2004, the remaining budget
provided enough financial support for CEDRSSA. For 2005, the Lower
Chamber provided roughly 35 million pesos from its budget and directed
an additional 25 million pesos to CEDRSSA from the Congressionally
allocated budget for the rural sector, totaling 60 million pesos for the
Center in 2005. As a reference, CEFP's 2003 budget was 30.8 million
pesos and CEDIP's was 19.4 million pesos.

The goal of the Center is both to research issues affecting agriculture
and study potential agricultural legislation and government programs to
provide scientific, legal, and economic analyses to Congress. Some
issues CEDRSSA may already be considering include: analyzing the true
costs of a possible Mexican farm bill (Agricultural Planning Law), NAFTA
quota and tariff elimination in 2008, and performing cost-benefit
analyses of other proposed laws. In many ways, the Center could mirror a
number of U.S. agencies or organizations, most notably the Congressional
Research Service. In addition, its responsibilities may bear some
similarities to those of the General Accounting Office, the
Congressional Budget Office, and the House Committee on Agriculture.

Under its charter, CEDRSSA must also:

-   Monitor and analyze Federal Government compliance with the
    objectives and mandates established in the Law of Sustainable Rural
    Development;

-   Evaluate the design and execution of federal programs aimed at
    promoting sustainable rural development and food sovereignty;

-   Analyze and project the future tendencies of the foreign and
    domestic food and agriculture sectors;

-   Analyze the impacts and repercussions of proposed laws and decrees
    as well as current laws and decrees targeted at the national
    agricultural sector;

-   Provide guidance to the Commissions (like Congressional committees)
    of Agriculture and Livestock, Rural Development, Land Reform,
    Fisheries, Natural Resources and the Environment, Water Resources,
    and other relevant commissions focusing on the economy, rural
    society, and rural-city relationships;

-   Systematically analyze the quantity and quality of Mexican dietary
    habits;

-   Analyze the current domestic land tenure situation;

-   Perform historical and prospective analyses of the target price
    program for all targeted crops and regions as well as the execution
    of that program;

-   Monitor information about agricultural supports and subsidies and
    their impact on the profitability and competitiveness of
    agricultural producers;

-   Analyze all measures applied by Mexican commercial partners and
    their impact on the domestic production and foreign trade of Mexico;

-   Catalog and analyze Mexican genetic resources and biodiversity as
    well as current laws protecting them to maintain sovereignty over
    these resources;

-   Monitor compliance with current Mexican biosecurity regulations and
    the presence of biotechnology in domestic production and
    consumption;

-   Monitor and evaluate the impact and implementation of the NAFTA
    Agricultural Chapter;

-   Monitor and analyze the impact of the 2002 Farm Bill and identify
    legal resources to protect domestic production from unfair
    practices;

-   Analyze international commercial agreements subscribed to by Mexico
    and monitor the compliance of trading partners with their
    obligations under such agreements, especially the unfair use of
    direct and indirect export subsidies; and

-   Monitor and analyze the existing asymmetries between Mexico and its
    trading partners under free trade agreements and determine ways to
    improve national competitiveness in these areas.

**FAS Comment:** The Center appears to be a positive development that
should benefit the Lower Chamber of Deputies and the Mexican people they
represent. Considering that Diputados serve two-year terms and are not
eligible for reelection, CEDRSSA should provide both institutional
knowledge on furthering the agricultural agenda within Congress as well
as useful analyses and guidance about specific agricultural issues and
legislative proposals. It is too early to determine whether the Center
will be successful since much will depend on the caliber of the staff,
the funding allocated to CEDRSSA, and the freedom the Center will have
to be truly independent.