U.S. farm policy sows ire in Africa

Djiguina Tounkara, a cotton farmer from Kita in landlocked Mali, says President Bush’s need to court the U.S. farm vote has made it difficult for him to feed and clothe his family.

A respected Muslim elder with 12 acres of cotton, Mr. Tounkara has no electricity or running water in his home, but he does have a handle on the intricacies of U.S. domestic politics. He understands the need of American politicians to support U.S. farmers, but said it is killing him. Federal subsidies to U.S. cotton farmers have distorted the world cotton market, making it impossible for Mr. Tounkara to make a living.

Mr. Tounkara, representing about 16,000 farmers in his district, came to Washington last month for the U.S.-Africa Trade Summit. He said he was forced to send two of his eight children to the city to earn money to help support the family.

He said all the aid, debt relief and good will the United States pours into Africa count for little if he and his neighbors throughout the continent are ruined.

“The U.S. subsidies have a direct effect on my market price. They control my market price. I cannot get what I should for my cotton,” he said late last month, shrugging his shoulders in helplessness.

The Freedom to Farm Act of 2002 — containing $190 billion in subsidies over 10 years — guarantees U.S. farmers 72 cents a pound for cotton. Mr. Tounkara spends about 20 cents to produce a pound of cotton but is paid less than 15 cents a pound at current prices.

“It is the same for us all. The responsibilities I have as a father — school, health care, food — I cannot do. All the cotton we grow is planted and picked by hand. We want to mechanize, but can’t. Farmers are being driven out,” he said.

Zan Dossaye Diazza, agricultural director of the Mali Cotton Consortium, said subsidies to U.S. and European farmers are blocking Africa’s economic development — though African development is a specific goal of U.S. foreign aid to Mali and the rest of the continent.

“If I could sit with President Bush, I’d ask him to stop the subsidies. We are not asking for the United States to subsidize our farmers with aid. We only want to compete in a free market, where all sides respect the rules of the free-market game,” he said.

President Bush, speaking at a Coast Guard Academy graduation ceremony in late May, addressed farmers of the developing world.

“We must also give farmers in Africa, Latin America and Asia and elsewhere a fair chance to compete in world markets,” Mr. Bush said to sustained applause.

“When wealthy nations subsidize their agricultural exports, it prevents poor countries from developing their own agricultural sectors. So I propose that all developed nations, including our partners in Europe, immediately eliminate subsidies on agricultural exports to developing countries so that they can produce more food to export and more food to feed their own people.”

What is and is not defined as a “subsidy” permits Mr. Bush to direct that kind of statement to European governments, while ignoring the U.S. subsidies. But Mr. Bush’s words do not match his deeds, Mr. Diazza said.

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