How agricultural subsidies in rich countries hurt poor nations
WOLE AKANDE, Columnist (Nigeria) / YellowTimes.org 19oct02 There
is trouble ahead on the farm front, despite assurances made to
poor countries by the World Trade Organization's Agreement on
Agriculture promising drastic reductions in agricultural
subsidies being doled out in the Western countries. Agricultural
subsidy is the process whereby governments give large sums of
money to agriculture traders and farmers to increase their
overall profits; this allows these exporters to drastically
reduce the prices of their goods. Earlier this year, President
Bush signed into law a new farm bill worth $180 billion that
will raise U.S. agricultural subsidies up to 80 percent a year
for the next 10 years. Behind the 2002 Farm Security and Rural
Investment Act is a simple principle: U.S. producers will market
crops at very low prices, and then have their incomes topped up
by government transfers. For 2002-03, wheat and maize growers
will get a 30 percent top-u