Cotton subsidies harm African farmers, report claims
A new report claims that West African cotton farmers are losing millions of dollars a year in potential income as a result of state subsidies paid in the European Union, the United States, India and China.
The report, published by the Fairtrade Foundation on Monday, 15 November 2010, claims that a total of US$47 billion has been paid in subsidies to cotton farmers in the past decade. Just over half of these subsidies were paid in the US, while US$7 billion was paid in Europe and the remainder in China and India.
As a result, the international cotton market has been flooded with cotton, pushing global prices down for competitors, according to the charity. The report quotes estimates from the charity Oxfam which suggest that the incomes of farmers in Chad, Mali, Benin and Burkina Faso would be 10% higher if US cotton subsidies were removed.