Cotton subsidies costing west African farmers £155m a year, report reveals

[Donald Ian Rankin]

Cotton farmers in west Africa are losing out on vital income because of subsidies paid to rival growers in the EU, US, China and India, Fairtrade Foundation says

Juliette Jowit The Guardian, Monday 15 November 2010

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/nov/15/cotton-subsidies-west-africa

The continuing struggle of cotton growers in the poorest region of the world is highlighted today by a report which reveals the many billions of dollars paid to rival farmers in the biggest economies since international talks began to make trade more fair.

As the Doha trade talks enter their tenth year this week, the Fairtrade Foundation calculates that the US, the European Union, China and India have in that time paid their cotton farmers $47bn (£29bn) in subsidies in total - flooding the international market and pushing down the global price for competitors, especially in west Africa, says the charity.

As a result, farmers in the four biggest cotton producing countries of west Africa are losing out on vital income which would help people in rural areas and pay for roads, schools and other developments to reduce their dependence on aid, it claims.

Introducing the report, The Great Cotton Stitch-up, the business secretary, Vince Cable, quotes an estimate by the charity Oxfam that the subsidies are costing west African cotton farmers and their families millions of dollars a year in potential income. A report by Oxfam in 2002 estimated the lost income at $191m (£118m) each year.

... (continued at http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/nov/15/cotton-subsidies-west-africa )