But while Minister Mai's intentions may be in the interest of key productive sector constituents, his restriction on imported dairy products can be classified as protectionism.
Still, it defies international trade norms in the 21s century, and the lack of access to markets can lead to trade disputes - and angry merchants.
When we posed the issue to the Ministry, CEO Servula Baeza said that larger countries do it, so why can't we? Mai added that every country does it, and he makes no apologies; he says he is only trying to protect the local farmers.
Servula Baeza - CEO, Ministry of Agriculture "The biggest culprits of protectionism in terms of subsidization of the farmers actually is the developed countries and yet they are the ones that want to make us follow the rules while they do not, so we have to take care of our people. I think the Government of Belize has a mandate and we have to look out after our local producers, we are living in difficult times right now, our economy is on the brink of collapse, so we have to iron out the issues of foreign exchange so working closely with the Ministry Finance we're trying to see how we can balance the issue of imports and looking at things that are really needed but I'm sorry when it comes to the WTO cause like I said they are the ones, the developed countries, they are the ones that subsidize their products and their farmers."
Hon. Jose Mai - Minister of Agriculture "We have no apologies for our licensing regime, we do not. You know that for us, this country, to export black beans into Mexico, they are charging us a 130% tariff, that is protectionism, it's just disguised in other way. There are tariffs and non-tariffs barriers, technical barriers to trade, they say I won't charge you any duties but you need to comply with three pages, they told us once you have the supply test risk analysis for all these pests and diseases in rice, that is protectionism. Every country does it, as a matter of fact it is said that the amount of subsidy that is give to producers in Europe, you can fly a cow around the world in a jet, that is the amount of subsidy that they Europeans who are the big countries give their producers, so I have no apologies for our licensing regime."
And while protectionism is only potential complaints, the wider public has another issue – why does the ministry have to protect the Mennonite community after they have been given plenty of concessions for decades? So much so, that they have become productive and wealthy communities branching off from poultry and dairy to now auto parts, auto sales, and construction material.
Well, Minister Mai said Mennonites are Belizeans too, and everybody is getting an equal chance.
Hon Jose Mai "The fact that they're called Mennonites and that their skin is whiter than mine and yours, makes no difference, they are born Belizeans, they have Belizean kids, they pay their taxes, so they should be treated no different. What we should do is look and learn from them, look at their community, we have something to learn here and I don't know that they get all these concessions, I don't know that that is true. Anybody who has a business plan has access to the same things that they have, it just so happen that they are aggressive and hardworking businessmen, and there are hardworking Belizeans too, locals too, if you want to say, that have access to the same fiscal incentives, if it is that they are getting all these fiscal incentives."
