Agriculture ministers meeting in Brussels this week are facing charges of hypocrisy over their attempts to reform Europe’s subsidised cotton sector, after four African countries warned that the current blueprint will fail to end dumping of European Union exports in world markets.
With cheap cotton from the West blamed for pushing world prices to their lowest levels since the depression, bankrupting more cost-effective farmers in West Africa, cotton has emerged as a key issue in the new round of global trade talks.
The main culprit is United States cotton, allowing Brussels to claim the moral high ground at the World Trade Organisation meeting in Cancun in September when it backed demands by Burkina Faso, Mali, Benin and Chad for reform. But the four African countries say Europe has failed to clean up its own house.
Although Europe’s subsidised exports are tiny in comparison to US exports, a study found they had a disproportionate impact on former colonies in West Africa. Reduced EU production would also open up opportunities for West African farmers to sell their produce in the European market.
The African countries are worried by the EU’s own admission that the current reform package will cut cotton production by less than 4%.
Cotton is mostly grown in Spain and Greece where farmers collect â,¬800-million each year in subsidies. Both countries oppose any change to the current system where payments are linked to the amount of cotton produced.
The EU has come up with a deal that would leave the system largely untouched. Payments would be linked to production for up to 40% of production, leaving little incentive for farmers to switch to other, less lucrative products. — Â