Hello Mr Pot, it's Mr Kettle. Both the US and EU shower their farmers with subsidies, which makes it almost impossible for developing countries to enter rich markets. The always slick Blairite who has gone off to Brussels in the finest tradition of home country losers who are sent off to Brussels, must of somehow overlooked the EUs subsidies and the lack of interest in change. Neither Brussels or Washington is very eager to deliver real reform but both are ready and willing to criticize each other forever.
The EU and US love to pontificate to the developing world, letting them know that they're going to have to pick themselves up with their own bootstraps, but over and over and over, they're never given an honest chance to succeed. As part of the special Africa edition of The Independent today, the subject of farm subsidies is addressed.
British households pay an extra £832 a year in grocery bills due to the huge EU subsidy system that is also depriving tens of thousands of African farmers of their livelihoods, a charity warns.
The £30bn-a-year EU agricultural subsidy regime is one of the biggest iniquities facing farmers in Africa and other developing counties. They cannot export their products because they compete with the lower prices made possible by payments.
In addition, European countries dump thousands of tons of subsidised exports in Africa every year so that local producers cannot even compete on a level playing field in their own land.
