Welcome aboard . . .
For the first time in 25 years, the World Bank’s annual report on development puts agriculture and the
productivity of small farmers at the heart of a global agenda to reduce
poverty, according to a report in the New York Times. Three-quarters of the world’s poor still live in the
countryside.
The report found, the NYT adds, that "if European countries, the United
States and other wealthy nations removed all tariffs and subsidies for
cotton, soybeans and other oilseeds — practices that reduce the world
price of those commodities and make it harder for unsubsidized farmers
in poor countries to compete — developing countries’ share of world
trade in cotton and oilseeds would be more than 80 percent in 2015
instead of only about half".
Meanwhile, the international round of trade talks to tackle this problem have all but ground to a halt because politicians are too scared to stand up the powerful lobbies that want to hang on to these subsidies. Could someone please post a copy of the World Bank's report to the key negotiators . . .