quarta-feira, maio 26, 2004
Subsídios Agrícolas (via Johan Norberg)
Os efeitos dos subsídios da no sector do leite em África:
The European dairy industry is swimming in a sea of subsidies. Each cow, be it Fresian or Jersey, receives $2 a day, just to chew grass.
But it doesn't stop there. Not only does the EU dairy industry get a subsidy for producing the milk, it also receives a subsidy for exporting it. Sacks of powdered milk from France, Northern Ireland and even Lithuania can be seen in small shops across West Africa.
Despite the French President, Jacques Chirac's call for a moratorium on agricultural export dumping, French farmers are the chief culprits in dumping milk into West Africa. For all Chirac's rhetoric, reforming Europe's dairy industry is itself a sacred cow. In 2001, 21,000 tonnes of powdered milk were packed on to cargo ships and imported into this corner of Africa. Much of this was from France.
The impact of milk dumping is devastating. With 6.5 million cattle, Mali has more livestock than any of its West African neighbours, yet 9,000 tonnes of powdered milk is being imported into the country every year.
So contentious is the milk issue that the EU is having to postpone any decision on curtailing milk subsidies until 2007. Sadly, by the time that they agree to turn off the EU milk taps, many of west Africa's dairy farmers will have sunk deeper into poverty, under a flood of European milk.
posted by Miguel Noronha 11:20 da manhã
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