US farmers says cotton subsidies hurting Africans

By Tiemoko Diallo

BAMAKO (Reuters) – A delegation of U.S. cotton farmers
visiting West Africa said Washington’s multi-billion dollar
subsidies to its cotton industry were worsening hardship in the
world’s poorest region.

During a trip to Mali, West Africa’s largest cotton
producer, the group of farmers from California, Illinois,
Vermont and Kansas witnessed conditions in one of the world’
poorest countries.

Cotton provides a livelihood for nearly a third of Mali’s
10 million inhabitants. The majority of people in the arid,
landlocked country survive on less than a dollar a day.

“Subventions are causing problems to farmers in Mali, we
have realized on the ground. Now we have the right words to
spread that message,” farmer Jim French told a news conference
organized by the UK-based charity Oxfam.

“More than words, we will take back faces.”

French said that he would work with non-governmental
organizations, producers groups and religious organizations to
seek a fairer trade system.

The United States is the world’s biggest exporter of cotton
and its producers received about $4.2 billion in government
subsidies during 2004-05. West Africa’s cotton producers say
this depresses world prices and ruins their economies.

Francois Traore, president of the cotton growers
association in neighboring Burkina Faso, noted that while there
were only 25,000 cotton growers in the United States, there
were between 15 and 20 million people in Africa dependent on
the crop.

“We want the African farmer to be able to live from his
work. The American farmer also lives from his work, but to the
detriment of others,” he said.

America’s huge cotton subsidies have repeatedly been a
stumbling block in world talks to cut trade-distorting farm
tariffs, with the so-called C5 West African countries — Benin,
Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Senegal — lobbying for a separate
deal on cotton.

Malian trade unionist Soloba Mady Keita said local farmers
only wanted respect for international trading rules.

“If there are no more subsidies in the market, then we will
be able to play our hand because with our low production costs
we are certain to sell cotton,” he said.