Agricultural Subsidies and its effect to the developing world (kibet)

Hey people... its sad that the US (thro their proposed Farm Bill) and
European Countries (and Canada soon)still insist on Agricultural subsidies
and aid to their farmers while fully cognisant of the adverse effect that
this will cause to the agricultural sector of the developing countries'
economies who cannot compete with the products subsidised by the Rich
countries' governments. Free trade? Someone somewhere's lying!

This article's quite enlightening:
http://www.globalpolicy.org/globaliz/econ/2002/0506farmers.htm

'A study by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund illustrates
some of the distorting effects of subsidies on markets such as cotton. If
world cotton prices were not depressed by subsidies, the number of people
living in poverty in the African nation of Burkina Faso could be cut in
half within six years, according to the study, which notes that subsidies
account for about one-third of the $35,000 average annual income of U.S.
cotton farmers. The per capita income in Burkina Faso is less than $1 a day.'



Kibet Chebii