The seventh district court, based in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, decided to suspend potato imports from the United States of America, based on the in dubio pro natura principle.
The National Confederation of Potato Producers (CONPAPA) said in a statement that the judge José Francisco Pérez Mier had decided to definitively suspend the imports of potatoes, which were affecting Mexican crops and land, as a precaution and to prevent damages to the nation's natural resources.
The judge's ruling made "the risk mitigation measures for the importation of potatoes to the United Mexican States," published in the Official Gazette on March 19, 2014, and issued by SAGARPA, void.
CONPAPA said the judge had stated that, "the mere fact that there is a high probability that foreign pests could enter the country requires immediate action to prevent the issuance of any permit or authorization from the authorities responsible for the admission of fresh produce from the United States. "
In parallel, he stressed that, "it's necessary to protect the people's right to have an adequate environment and food. A plague could affect domestic production and our means to feed the population."
With his ruling, judge Juan Francisco Perez Mier, was able to provide security to potato producers because it stopped the possible entry of 60 quarantine pests that could have damaged the agricultural sector and Mexican land.
According to CONPAPA, over the last decade more than a thousand rejections to import food have been issued because of phytosanitary problems of origin. Allowing access to these products, they stated, would represent 450 million dollars in economic losses in the first three years and, more importantly, soil and product contamination because of the potato blight, as many people would use the U.S. potatoes as seeds.
If the American tuber were marketed, the financial hit would put at risk the sector's permanence.
The potato from the U.S., they argued, carries pests such as nematodes, viruses and fungi that do not exist in Mexico and that would risk other products such as tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and tobacco.
Such a situation would affect, not only the 8,700 potato producers in the country, but also thousands of farmers who work in nearly 50,000 hectares, with a production value of nearly 12,000 million pesos; 70,000 families who are indirectly dependent on that activity.
Related video of John Keeling (NPC) and John Toaspern (USPB) discussing the situation in Mexico (SpudmanTV; published July 31, 2014)
