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West African Cotton Producers wary of cotton subsidies |
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2004-7-7
Benin spearheading a group of poor West African cotton-producing nations, last week called on World Trade Organization members to end cotton subsidies of all developed nations within five years.
The proposal came two weeks after a WTO ruling that the payments by the U.S. to cotton growers were in violation of world trade rules.
It was Brazil''s complaint about the U.S and the in defiance of intense pressure by the U.S. and behind-the-scenes arm-twisting by the European Union, senior officials from Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali called for all cotton subsidies by rich nations to be drastically reduced or dismantled.
These subsidies destroy our economies, and cotton is a very strategic product and has a very specific character, Fatiou Akplogan, the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Benin said.
Representatives of Nigeria and Brazil joined in to support them on the issue.
A call was given to set up fund worth $250 million to compensate developing-world farmers for damages to their livelihoods caused by rich countries subsidies.
WTO reports state that cotton accounts for 77 percent of Benin''s exports, 55 percent of Burkina Faso and nearly 18 percent of Mali; over 10 million people in the region depend on cotton for their livelihood.
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