Viewpoint: Oxfam America
Over 75% of the world’s poorest people rely on farming for a living and earn less than a dollar a day. World trade could be a powerful force for reducing poverty, if poor people could sell their products at a decent price in open markets. Increasing Africa’s share of the export market by just one percent would generate more than twenty times the total aid the region received in 2003. But wealthy countries dominate international trade and have rigged rules to their advantage. For example, taxpayer-funded U.S. subsidies—most of which benefit large agribusinesses— promote overproduction of commodities like cotton, with the surplus dumped on international markets, bringing prices down. That affects people like Gnagna Traoré who grows cotton on her 24-acre farm in Mali. She supports seven people in her immediate family, but depressed cotton prices make that task challenging. “You used to get something out of cotton,” she explains. “Now there is nothing. You plant, you wait, you spend days and days harvesting ... and in the end you still can't feed your children.” When the so-called “Doha Development Round” of international trade negotiations began four years ago, the goal was to change the rules so poor countries could capture their fair share of global trade. The next meeting of the World Trade Organization, set for December in Hong Kong, offers an important chance to deliver on these promises. As the U.S. administration prepares for the WTO meeting, some important first steps have been taken to revive stalled negotiations on agriculture. But powerful vested interests are holding the U.S. and the European Union from taking meaningful actions to “Make Trade Fair.” While trade negotiations need some jolts of caffeine, a quiet revolution is, nonetheless, taking place within this unjust system. Don Caramelo, a third-generation coffee farmer in northern Nicaragua, has toiled for years over the careful harvest of the red coffee cherry. While many of his compañeros have had to abandon their coffee plants or burn beautiful forests to create pastureland, Don Caramelo and his family have been able to follow an alternative path. They are members of a local coffee cooperative that is producing Fair Trade Certified™ organic beans. These products pay farmers a fair price for their crops, which include the cost of sustainable production and covers the family’s needs. Respecting the environment and helping farmers build capacity and market access is part of this system.
The WTO meeting in Hong Kong will be crucial in determining whether the benefits of trade will shift towards developing countries. In the meantime, fair trade certification can help one cup at a time. Shayna Harris, Coffee Program Organizer Laura Rusu, Press Officer Oxfam America |
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